DOH logs 258 new COVID-19 cases as first week of re-opened economy ends
MANILA, Philippines — Following the first full week since the economy was partially re-opened in some parts of the country, the health department on Sunday logged 258 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), bringing the total case tally to 14,035.
With the Department of Health’s new cases came 72 new recoveries and 5 new deaths, bringing the totals for both to 3,249 and 868, respectively.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in the Philippines stands at 9,918 as of Sunday.
With the new documented patients, 1,522 cases have been recorded since last Sunday’s total case tally of 12,513, or a 12.2% increase.
Less than 300,000 Filipinos have been tested for the virus, government data shows.
Earlier this weekend, the health department on also said that thousands who were recorded to be positive carriers of the coronavirus are still being validated due to clerical errors—to which they also attributed the sizable backlog of COVID-19 tests.
“The validation of confirmed cases is a long and cumbersome process that requires a lot of time to make sure that the information and data we are putting out is correct,” Health Undersecretary and spokesperson Rosette Vergeire said in Filipino on Friday.
The week in coronavirus updates
Areas were placed under modified enhanced community quarantine and general community quarantine on Saturday, May 16.
Traffic congestion was observed on the very first day of MECQ, prompting the quarantine enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases to modify its deployment of over 2,000 checkpoints around the country.
As thousands are expected to troop back to work by June, lawmakers and transport groups have been calling attention to the country’s decrepit public transportation system, warning that the available options will not be able to accommodate the commuting public and could even result in a second wave of cases.
Earlier this week, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III claimed that the Philippines had already been seeing a second wave of COVID-19 since March but was successful in flattening the curve—claims he later walked back in the face of criticism from lawmakers and health experts.
According to President Rodrigo Duterte’s weekly report to Congress last Monday, the Department of Health has allocated P18 million for the clinical trials of anti-flu medication Avigan on coronavirus patients.
Around the world, 5,401,612 have been sickened by the new pathogen, leading to 343,804 deaths since the virus began in Wuhan, China, according to the latest tally by Worldometers. — with reports from Ratziel San Juan
If you believe you have come into possible contact with infected patients, you may be directed to the proper office of the Department of Health for advice through the following lines: (632) 8651-7800 local 1149/1150 or (632) 165-364.
You may also opt to call the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine at (02) 8807-2631/ 8807-2632/ 8807-2637. The general public has also been encouraged to forward its concerns to the Health Department's dedicated 24/7 COVID-19 hotlines (02) 894-COVID and 1555 (free for all subscribers).
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