PROTECTED VS CORONAVIRUS | Residents of Pasig City line up for COVID-19 vaccination at Rosario Super Health Center in Pasig City. (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The nationwide daily COVID-19 case count has breached the 2,000 level again after more than six months based on the COVID-19 tracker data of the Department of Health (DOH).
Latest DOH data showed that confirmed new cases of COVID-19 rose to 2,114 on Friday, up from 1,940 infections reported the previous day. The last time that the country logged more than 2,000 cases was on Oct. 20 when fresh cases nationwide were pegged at 2,227.
The number of new cases pushed the total active cases to 15,114. The country’s COVID-19 tally since the COVID-19 pandemic began stood at 4,111,028 as of Friday.
According to OCTA Research fellow Guido David, Metro Manila accounted for nearly half of the reported cases with 908 infections in the region alone. This was followed by the provinces of Rizal (145), Cavite (141), Laguna (106) and Bulacan (88).
Positivity rate at 24.9%
The National Capital Region has been seeing a steep increase in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, with 8,164 individuals infected with the virus during the period.
The positivity rate, or the number of infected people out of the total number of tested individuals, stood on Wednesday at 24.9 percent, way above the recommended rate by the World Health Organization (WHO) of below 5 percent.
However, the actual number of positive individuals may even be bigger as the government tally covers only those whose test samples were taken and confirmed by laboratories accredited by the DOH and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
Monkeypox
Meanwhile, the DOH on Friday said that “the world is on its road to recovery” following WHO’s revocation of the public health emergency of international concern on monkeypox, now officially named mpox.
“This signifies that the world is on its road to recovery, providing a global opportunity to effectively respond to future pandemics as well,” it said in a statement to reporters.
“However, it is still important to stay alert of its possible resurgence. If you have a travel history to countries with [mpox], and then have symptoms like fever, lymphadenopathy or “kulani,” and rashes, seek immediate medical attention,” it added.
The Philippines did not declare its own health emergency status on the viral disease. There were four confirmed mpox cases in the country and all had recovered, the DOH said.