DOH reports 4,933 new COVID-19 infections; total cases in PH surpass 187K

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health has recorded 4,933 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, raising the total number of coronavirus disease infections in the Philippines to 187,249.

As of 4 p.m. on Saturday, the DOH also documented 436 additional recoveries. This brings to 114,921 the total number of people who were able to recover from the disease.

The COVID-19 death toll meanwhile is now at 2,966 with 26 more fatalities reported.

Of the newly reported deaths, 13 or 50 percent occurred in August; 10 or 38 percent in July; and one each in June, in May and in April.

DOH also said there are 69,362 active cases of COVID-19. The confirmed cases were collected from tests conducted by 97 out of 109 operational molecular laboratories nationwide.

Metro Manila, meanwhile, recorded the highest number of new cases with 2,316 or 58 percent of the additional infections reported in the country.

This was followed by Calabarzon with 826 and Central Luzon with 242.

Upon validation, the DOH also found 49 duplicates which were removed from the total caseload, including 15 recovered cases.

The novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, was first detected in Wuhan City, in China’s Hubei province in December 2019.

The virus causes mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough for most people. It causes serious illnesses such as pneumonia on older adults and people with existing health issues.

MUF/CFC