DOH: COVID-19 clusters increasing

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has observed an increase in the clustering of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in specific communities.

FILE PHOTO: A computer image created by Nexu Science Communication together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus which is the type of virus linked to COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus linked to the Wuhan outbreak, shared with Reuters on February 18, 2020. NEXU Science Communication/via REUTERS

“We have observed that the cases right now or the infections are being identified in specific areas in the country, in the communities. So when we tried to look at our data, the number of clustering in communities is increasing,” Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

A cluster occurs when there is a concentration of infections in the same area at the same time.

The DOH said Wednesday that there are now 1,107 clusters of COVID-19 cases after 69 new clusters were identified.

Vergeire reiterated that other factors contributing to the increase in COVID-19 cases are the returning overseas Filipino workers and locally stranded individuals who travel back to their home provinces.

“We also of course have increased our testing capacity and we are increasing our surveillance mechanism where we are doing active case finding already. That’s why there are a lot of people or individuals that are being identified as positives right now,” said Vergeire.

The Philippines has already recorded a total of 143,749 COVID-19 cases, with additional 4,444 cases reported on Wednesday.

Of the confirmed cases, there are 72,348  active cases, 68,997  recoveries, and 2,404 deaths.

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