New COVID-19 cases in PH fall below 1,700

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday logged 1,640 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest recorded increase in nearly a month.

This was the third time this month that new cases rose by less than 2,000, and the first in nearly a month that it went below 1,700. But this may be partly due to the failure of 15 laboratories to submit their data to the DOH on time.

Of the newly infected, 1,487 got sick between Oct. 7 and Oct. 20, while 59 fell ill between Oct. 1 and Oct. 6. The country’s total caseload now stands at 360,775.

Cavite and Quezon City both recorded the highest number of new cases at 86 each, followed by Batangas (69), Bulacan (62) and Manila (61).

With the addition of 369 patients, the total number of recoveries from COVID-19 rose to 310,642. The death toll, however, increased to 6,690 as 17 patients succumbed to the severe respiratory disease. Eleven of them died this month, five in September and one in April.

Active cases

Five of the fatalities were from Zamboanga, five from Metro Manila, two from Central Luzon, two from the Cordillera Administrative Region and one each from Ilocos, Davao and Soccsksargen.

The recoveries and deaths left the country with 43,443 active cases, of which 83 percent were mild, 11.6 percent asymptomatic, 2 percent severe and 3.4 percent critical.

As of Monday noon, 4,163,064 patients have been tested for COVID-19 by 147 accredited laboratories.

In Metro Manila, one out of every 10 policemen has been infected by the coronavirus.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Police Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said there were currently 2,579 confirmed COVID-19 cases among the 25,588-member police force.

Only 88 policemen, however, have yet to recover and be released from the NCRPO’s different quarantine facilities. The rest have gone back to duty while five others died due to the severe respiratory disease.

As of Monday, there were 6,768 policemen all over the country who had contracted COVID-19, with Metro policemen accounting for more than a third of the total cases.

According to Philippine National Police officials, those who tested positive may have gotten the virus in the conduct of their duty as front-liners, including manning checkpoints and enforcing quarantine protocols.

According to Sinas, the number of new COVID-19 cases among NCRPO employees peaked in August when more than 900 cases were recorded.

“We are now seeing a slowdown [of new cases] in September and October, where we have less than 10 new cases daily,” he said.

Sinas said that all NCRPO employees assigned to the field, particularly in markets and malls, had been required to undergo swab testing.

Since March, 61 percent of the entire NCRPO force has been affected by COVID-19.

—With a report from Dexter Cabalza