MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases climbed to 37,514 on Tuesday as the Department of Health (DOH) reported over a thousand new infections.
In its latest case bulletin, DOH listed 1,080 new cases, 858 of which are “fresh” or detected in the last three days, while 222 are “late” cases or were part of the validation backlog.
The health department also reported 277 new recoveries and 11 new deaths, bringing their totals to 10,233 and 1,266 respectively.
Central Visayas registered 468 or over 43 percent of the new cases. Meanwhile, 203 came from Metro Manila while the other 409 came from other regions nationwide.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said DOH is currently analyzing its data to ascertain what contributes to the sudden spike in fresh cases.
She added that the newly-reported cases only came from 57 of the DOH’s 67 licensed laboratories.
“Ibigsabihin po ay mayroong mga kaso pa ngayong araw na maitatala natin kapag nag-submit po sila ng listahan nila galing sa iba pang laboratoryo,” Vergeire explained.
(There will be more cases today that we can record when the other laboratories submit their lists.)
Exactly a week ago, the DOH reported a 1,150 new cases, the new highest single-day increase in new infections.
President Rodrigo Duterte is set to announce new community quarantine measures on Tuesday night just hours before his previous order is set to expire.
Except for Cebu City, which is placed under the stringent under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), and Talisay City which is now under modified ECQ due to their high transmission rate, and the increasing demand for critical care, the entire country—including Metro Manila—is currently under less restrictive coronavirus lockdowns.
Experts projected that COVID-19 cases in the country may shoot up to 60,000 by the end of July as the spread of the disease shows no sign of slowing down.
COVID-19 — which was first detected in Hubei, China late last year — has already infected over 10.3 million people worldwide, killing over 505,000.