This photo taken on April 6, 2021, shows a relative wearing personal protective equipment attending to a family member with COVID-19 at a makeshift ward in a hospital in Manila. – More contagious variants of the coronavirus have been blamed for a record surge in infections in Metro Manila that has overwhelmed hospitals and sent the national capital region into lockdown. (Photo by JAM STA ROSA / AFP) / TO GO WITH Health-virus-Philippines,FOCUS by Allison Jackson and Cecil Morella
MANILA, Philippines — The total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country is now at 67,769 following the detection of 6,895 additional infections, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.
A case bulletin from the DOH showed that the country now has a total of 1,020,495 cumulative confirmed cases since the first infection was recorded in January last year.
Active cases represent 6.6 percent of this number. Of the active cases, 96.5 percent are mild and asymptomatic.
Meanwhile, there were also additional 10,739 recoveries, bringing the number of patients who have survived the illness to 935,695. Recoveries make up 91.7 of the total tally.
But another 115 patients have died of COVID-19. In total, 17,031 patients have died while battling the disease, representing 1.67 percent of the case count.
According to the DOH, 18.1 percent of the 37,428 individuals who were tested were found positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The DOH said 18 duplicate entries, including 12 recoveries, were slashed from the tally, while 59 cases that were earlier counted as recoveries were reclassified as deaths following validation.
One laboratory was not operational on April 26 while five laboratories were not able to submit their data.
While there are signs of a decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases, Health Secretary Francisco Duque, treatment czar Leopoldo Vega, the OCTA Research group, and other health experts earlier said they are in favor of extending the MECQ in the NCR Plus, citing the need to sustain the gains during the strict quarantine and to further improve the health system capacity.
Meanwhile, the mayors of Metro Manila have also agreed to recommend a “flexible” MECQ in their localities, according to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos.
Abalos said a flexible MECQ is a “middle ground” between MECQ and general community quarantine, meaning strict border control and health protocols will still be implemented but more activities will be allowed.
The MECQ in the NCR Plus – the “bubble” that covers Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan- is scheduled to end on April 30.