COVID-19 cases in Philippines surge to 2,084 with biggest daily rise
MANILA, Philippines (Update 1 5:53 p.m.) — The Philippines reported 538 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, its biggest one-day leap yet since the outbreak, as the Department of Health ramps up its testing efforts.
From 1,546 infections the day before, the additional cases brought the national total to 2,084.
The country has so far conducted 15,337 tests, including retests and validation. DOH figures revealed that 3,938 persons have been tested since late January.
The recent spikes in the number of cases were attributed to the arrival of test kits and the opening of additional laboratories processing samples across the archipelago.
DOH also said there are 10 additional fatalities, raising the death toll to 88.
Patient 935, 79th fatality
- 83-year old Filipino male from Parañaque City with no travel history
- Died on March 29 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to COVID-19 infection
Patient 789, 80th fatality
- 74-year-old Filipino male from Quezon City with no travel history
- Died on March 20 due to community-acquired pneumonia, COVID-19
Patient 1419, 81st fatality
- 69-year-old Filipino male from Quezon City with no travel and exposure history
- Died on March 30 due to septic shock secondary to community acquired pneumonia
Patient 1032, 82nd fatality
- 64-year-old Filipino female from Manila with no travel history
- Died on March 27 due to ARDS secondary to community acquired pneumonia high risk secondary to COVID-19
Patient 2045, 83rd fatality
- 60-year-old Filipino male from Quezon City with unknown travel history
- Died on March 26 due to ARDS secondary to pneumonia high risk
Patient 1372, 84th fatality
- 89-year-old Filipino male from Caloocan City with unknown travel history
- Died on March 28 due to fatal arrhythmia secondary to severe acidosis secondary to sepsis; ARDS secondary to COVID-19, shock secondary to bacteremia secondary to community acquired pneumonia high risk, acute kidney injury secondary to sepsis
Patient 1508, 85th fatality
- 72-year-old Filipino male from Rizal with unknown travel history
- Died on March 26 but was only confirmed positive for COVID-19 on March 27
- Died due to fatal arrhythmia, hyperkalemia, acute kidney injury, acute respiratory failure
Patient 862, 86th fatality
- 78-year-old Filipino male from Quezon City with unknown travel history
- Died on March 25 but was only confirmed positive for COVID-19 on March 26
- Died due to acute respiratory failure secondary to community-acquired pneumonia high risk
Patient 1240, 87th fatality
- 51-year-old Filipino male from San Juan City with unknown travel history
- Died on March 28 due to fatal arrhythmia probably secondary to myocarditis; septic shock secondary to COVID-19; refractory acute respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, acute kidney injury secondary to sepsis
Patient 1680, 88th fatality
- 51-year-old Filipino female from Rizal with unknown travel history
- Died on March 24 but was only confirmed positive on March 25
- Died due to ARDS secondary to pneumonia high risk, severe acute respiratory infection
The number of recovered patients, meanwhile, rose to 49 after DOH reported seven new recoveries.
There are additional 968 patients under investigation and 6,321 patients under monitoring.
The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday reported that 348 overseas Filipinos from 30 countries and regions in the Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas have contracted the disease.
Of the figure, 228 are undergoing treatment while 111 have recovered. Nine Filipinos based abroad have died.
As Luzon entered its third week on enhanced community quarantine, the government ordered different agencies to convert maritime vessels, hotels, convention centers and sports facilities as quarantine sites.
The national government allotted P200 billion worth of aid for low-income households who are most affected by the growing health crisis.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the globe rose above 784,000 with over 37,600 deaths.
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Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
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The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
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In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
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In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with COVID-19 and may have created the virus themselves.
Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs over Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street when he was prime minister, a UK parliament committee ruled on Thursday.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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