PH confirms 7,757 new cases of COVID-19; third straight day of over 7,000 cases

MANILA - The Philippines confirmed 7,757 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday bringing the country’s total to 663,794.

This was the second-highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic and also the third straight day that new COVID-19 cases exceeded 7,000.

The Department of Health meanwhile also reported 15,288 new recoveries pushing the total number of Filipinos who recovered from the disease to 577,754.

This means that the country has a total of 73,072 active cases as of 4 p.m. Sunday.

Thirty nine more deaths were reported from the illness, bringing COVID-19’s death toll in the Philippines to 12,968.

Independent research group OCTA on Sunday warned that hospitals in Metro Manila are projected to reach full capacity by Holy Week if the government fails to slow down COVID-19 transmission.

OCTA also said that new daily cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines could reach up to 10,000 by the end of the month, half likely to be recorded in Metro Manila if the current daily trend continues.

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

Several new variants of the virus causing disease have developed, which researchers say may be more contagious than the original variant. 

The country’s first COVID-19 case was a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, China.

The first COVID-19 death outside of China, was also recorded in the Philippines last year. 

Worldwide, the novel coronavirus has infected more than 122.8 million people and caused over 2.7 million deaths since it was first reported in Wuhan, China in late 2019 according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

The United States remains the most badly affected country with over 29.78 million infections and over 541,000 deaths.

Brazil ranks second with 11.95 million infections and over 277,000 COVID-19 fatalities. In terms of number of infections, India is third with 11.36 million confirmed cases. In terms of deaths meanwhile, Mexico’s ranks third with over 197,000 deaths.