MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has recorded an additional 1,885 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the current total active cases of the disease in the country to 27,748 (5.9 percent of total cases) as of Friday, Christmas Day.
This pushed the country’s total tally of COVID-19 cases so far to 467,601.
The DOH has also recorded 307 new recoveries, bringing the number of patients who have recovered from the disease to 430,791 (92.1 percent of total cases).
There were also seven newly reported deaths, pushing the death toll to 9,062 (1.94 percent of total cases).
Seven duplicates, including four recoveries, were removed from the total case count.
Of all cities and provinces, Quezon City recorded the highest newly-reported cases at 130, followed by Bulacan at 122, Davao City at 99, Rizal at 78, and Leyte at 63.
The department said 15 laboratories did not submit their data to the COVID-19 Data Repository System on Thursday.
In its latest report dated December 21, the OCTA Research group, which monitors the trends of COVID-19 in the Philippines, said a “surge in its early stages has already started” in Metro Manila—the epicenter of the outbreak in the country—ahead of Christmas.
It added that the “period of the declining trend in cases observed in the National Capital Region in the past few months has now ended.” However, it noted that the surge of infections can still be mitigated.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also earlier warned of a surge in coronavirus infections due to expected family reunions and other merrymaking this holiday season. She said, however, that this could still be toned down by strict adherence to health protocols. [ac]