PH COVID-19 caseload tops 220,000 as DOH records 3,446 new cases

MANILA, Philippines — There are now a total of 220,819 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,446 more infections on Monday.

Most of the additional cases were from the National Capital Region (1,900 cases), Laguna (163), Cavite (161), Leyte (155), and Pampanga (116).

Of the additional infections, 2,965 or 86% occurred within the last two weeks. The top regions with cases in the past two weeks were NCR (1,528 or 52%), Region 4A (442 or 15%), and Region 3 (275 or 9%)

DOH also announced 165 more survivors, bringing the total to 157,562, while there were 38 new fatalities, taking the country’s death count to 3,558.

Of the 38 deaths, 31 occurred in August while 4 were in July and 3 in June.

Meanwhile, there are now 59,699 active cases nationwide.

Active cases are patients who are still infected with COVID-19 and are staying in hospitals or are currently under quarantine.

DOH also disclosed that there were 23 duplicate cases that were removed from the previous tally, including 4 tagged as recoveries.

“Moreover, there were two (2) cases that were previously reported as recovered but after final validation, they were deaths.,” the DOH said.

President Rodrigo Duterte is set to address the nation on Monday night to announce the post-August 31 quarantine status of different areas in the country.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, a member of the government’s COVID-19 task force, earlier said they are looking at implementing one-month community quarantine periods instead of the current two-week duration.

READ: IATF mulls extending quarantine status to one month

The President usually announces the quarantine status of certain areas and places them under varying degrees of lockdown restrictions for 14 days.

KGA