PH’s active COVID-19 cases breach 60,000-mark again

MASK UP A tarpaulin reminding the public to wear face masks is installed at the busy corner of Quezon Avenue and Agham Road in Quezon City. While COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila have been declining in the last two weeks, the Department of Health says people should not be complacent and continue observing minimum health and safety protocols. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The total active COVID-19 cases in the Philippines breached the 60,000-mark again following the reporting of additional 7,450 cases on Friday—the second consecutive day this week that the country reported coronavirus infections that are more than 7,000.

Based on the latest DOH bulletin, the 60,794 active cases now compose 4.8 percent of the 1.25 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country since the pandemic started.

Of this number, there are 1.173 million recoveries, including an additional 2,382 patients who have recovered from the disease.

There were also 181 new deaths, raising the country’s COVID-19 death toll to 21,537—representing 1.72 percent of the case count.

On positivity rate, the DOH said 13.6 percent of the 48,862 people who were tested for COVID-19 were found positive on Wednesday.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational on Wednesday while five laboratories were not able to submit their data.

Based on data in the last 14 days, the five non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 2 percent of samples tested and 2.7 percent of positive individuals, the DOH said.

Meanwhile, 12 duplicates, including nine recoveries and one death, were removed from the total case count.

The DOH added that 119 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

On Thursday, the DOH said the increase in daily COVID-19 cases in the country has been more evident in the past week. However, the increase in national daily cases over the past week was reflected in the epidemic curve as a plateau since their onset of illness started as early as the previous weeks.

/MUF