COVID-19 cases in PH breach 7,000 mark; recoveries soar to 762

MANILA, Philippines — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country has breached the 7,000th mark, as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 211 new cases of the respiratory disease on Friday.

The confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country are now at 7,192.

Meanwhile, the DOH also counted 40 new recoveries, bringing the total number of patients who have defeated the illness to 762.

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The country’s total death toll now stands at 477.

Lockdown extended

Earlier Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and other “high-risk” areas in Luzon until May 15, 2020.

Duterte’s decision was made Thursday evening and aired on national television Friday morning.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on April 23, 2020. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Aside from the three regions, Pangasinan, Benguet, Albay, Catanduanes and the Mindoro provinces will likewise remain under ECQ due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, however, announced that the extension of ECQ in the provinces of Benguet, Pangasinan, Tarlac, and Zambales is still subject to “re-checking” and may still be revised. by April 30.

In mid-March, Duterte placed the entire Luzon, home to over 50 million people, under lockdown to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

It was supposed to lapse on April 13 but the President approved the proposal to extend it for over two weeks or until April 30.

Metro Manila, the country’s economic and political center, accounts for the vast majority of the Philippines’ total COVID-19 infections.