Philippines sees 7,443 new coronavirus infections

Senior citizens wait to be inoculated with Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines at Mandaluyong's mega vaccination site next to the city hall on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.
The STAR/Michael Varcas

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:15 p.m.) — The Department of Health on Saturday recorded 7,443 additional COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 1,216,582.

What's new today?

  • This is the fourth day in a row that the Philippines recorded over 150 coronavirus fatalities.      
     
  • From May 26 to May 29, a total of 703 people have died of COVID-19.                     
     
  • Health authorities detected a total of 242 new cases of various coronavirus variants classified as variants of concern.
  • The Philippines is resuming the deployment of workers to Saudi Arabia after it assured Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III that foreign employers will shoulder the costs of COVID-19 protocols, including the testing and quarantine of Filipino workers.

  • The Department of Health said some 50,000 doses of Sputnik V will arrive in the Philippines on Sunday and will be deployed to populous areas seeing an increase in infections. 

  • The COVID-19 shot developed by Sinovac Biotech reduces mortality by 97%, according to early results of the immunization campaign in Uruguay, which relies heavily on the Chinese jab.

  • The World Health Organization warned that efforts to uncover the COVID-19 pandemic's origins were being hampered by politics, insisting scientists needed space to work on solving the mystery.

— Bella Perez-Rubio with a report from Xave Gregorio

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