Manila shows sharp increase of COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — The number of COVID-19 cases in Manila City has shown a sharp increase, its mayor Honey Lacuna said on Friday.

Lacuna said that as of April 14, there are 19 new confirmed active cases, bringing the total count to 71.

“Ano pong ibig sabihin niyan? Ibig sabihin po tumataas na naman po ang kaso ng COVID-19. Although, ‘di ba kung tutuusin hindi naman po ganoon kalaki ang pagtaas, pero tumaas pa din po, yun ang nakakatakot,” Lacuna said in a social media address.

(What does that mean? It means the COVID-19 cases have increased, but if we look at it, the increase is not that high, but it is still increasing, which is still alarming.)

“For the past few weeks, bumababa ang kaso; ngayon, sunod-sunod na araw tumataas po ang mga cases,” she added.

(For the past few weeks, the cases had been decreasing, but now, for the past few days, the cases have been increasing.)

Despite this, Lacuna said that the reimposition of the mandatory face mask policy is not yet needed at present.

However, Lacuna said the city will continue to observe closely in the next coming days the trend of new COVID-19 cases to determine if mandating the use of face masks indoors and outdoors will be necessary.

Meanwhile, Manila also recorded 122,939 recoveries and 2,065 deaths.

READ: COVID-19 positivity rate in Metro Manila jumps from 4.4% to 6.5%

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