Philippines adds 2,180 new COVID-19 cases; total now at 296,755
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines recorded 2,180 new coronavirus infections Thursday, taking the country’s caseload to over 296,000.
To date, COVID-19 has afflicted 296,755 individuals in the Philippines, of which 59,700 or 20% were active cases, the Department of Health reported.
Nearly 84% of the newly-added infections were detected in the last 14 days.
Metro Manila recorded the most number of new cases with 802. It was followed by Laguna (292), Batangas (152), Cavite (144) and Negros Occidental (87).
Researchers studying the coronavirus outbreak in the country earlier projected that the Philippines would have 310,000 to 330,000 total COVID-19 case by end-September.
The DOH also logged that some 580 more people recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 231,928. Total recoveries comprise 78% of the nation’s confirmed cases.
The country’s fatality count, however, increased to 5,127 after 36 additional deaths were reported. Of the newly-reported deaths, 23 occurred this month.
Some 3.295 million people have been so far tested for coronavirus in the country.
A study of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission ranked the Philippines 66th out of 91 countries in terms of suppressing the transmission of COVID-19, which can be attributed to President Rodrigo Duterte’s “medical populism.”
It defined medical populism as “simplifying the pandemic by downplaying its impacts or touting easy solutions or treatments, spectacularizing their responses to crisis, forging divisions between the ‘people’ and dangerous ‘others,’ and making knowledge claims to support the above.”
To date, the novel coronavirus has killed more than 975,100 people of the over 31.77 million infected since the disease first surfaced in China late last year.
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