More than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases confirmed, tally now at 525,618

MANILA (UPDATE) - The Philippines confirmed 2,103 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday bringing the country’s total to 525,618.

This was the second straight day that the country reported more than 2,000 new confirmed cases. 

The Department of Health also reported 11,653 new recoveries pushing the total number of Filipinos who recovered from the disease to 487,551.

This was also highest number of recoveries reported in a day since November 1, 2020.

This meant that the country has a total of 27,318 active cases as of 4 p.m. Sunday.

Eighty more deaths were reported from the illness, bringing COVID-19’s death toll in the Philippines to 10,749.

A new and more infectious strain of the novel coronavirus, which was first reported in the United Kingdom, has spread to the Philippines.

• The UK coronavirus variant: what we know

The country’s first COVID-19 case was a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, China, which was confirmed by the DOH on Jan. 30, last year.

The pandemic has already caused the Philippines to plunge into its worst economic contraction since World War 2.

President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated he would prioritize police officers, military personnel, and poor families in the government’s vaccination rollout against COVID-19. This was contrary to the health department and the pandemic task force’s initial plan to inoculate health workers first from the virus.

Worldwide, the novel coronavirus has infected almost 102.58 million people and caused over 2.21 million deaths since it first emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019 according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

The United States remains the most badly affected country with nearly 26 million infections and over 439,000 deaths.

India follows the US with 10.74 million infections. Brazil ranks third with 9.17 million infections but is second in terms of deaths with over 223,000 COVID-19 fatalities.