MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine health department on Saturday reported an additional 156 individuals who contracted the novel coronavirus, raising the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 8,928.
Figures from the Department of Health (DOH) also showed that 24 more patients succumbed to the severe respiratory ailment caused by SARS-CoV-2, increasing the total death count to 603.
On the other hand, the health agency said it documented the recovery of another 40 COVID-19 patients that tally of recoveries in the country reached 1,124 as of May 2.
The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. To date, the disease has infected more than 3.3 million people globally and killed 238,788 while over 1.05 million survived the respiratory illness, according to John Hopkins University data.
The COVID-19 outbreak first emerged in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China late last year.