MANILA — Coronavirus infections in the Philippines surpassed the 24,000-mark on Thursday as 443 additional cases were recorded.
The country's health department also reported a record-high of 270 new recoveries as the cumulative total of COVID-19 cases reached 24,175.
The total recoveries rose to 5,165, while the death toll climbed by 9 to 1,036.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire attributed the record-high new recoveries to the improving response to COVID-19.
“Maaaring dulot po ito ng ating mas malalim na karanasan sa panggagamot ng pasyenteng may COVID-19, pagpapaigting ng health system capacity, at pagpapalawak ng testing kung saan mas maaga po nating naiidentify at nasisimulan ang paggagamot sa pasyente,” she said.
(This might be due to the deepening understanding and experience of treating patients with COVID-19, improved health system capacity and expanded testing where we are able to identify and treat patients earlier.)
She also said that the improved surveillance system through the newly rolled out application COVIDKaya helped since they are able to better monitor the health status of the patients.
In its daily bulletin, the government said the 443 additional cases include 253 fresh and 190 late cases.
Fresh cases refer to those whose test results were released within the last 3 days, while late cases are those whose results were released four days ago or more.
The global infections have reached 7.3 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, 3.4 million individuals have already recovered while 416,000 have died.
Fresh cases refer to patients whose test results were released and subsequently validated in the last 3 days. Meanwhile, late cases refer to patients whose test results were released more than 3 days ago but were only validated recently.
Of the fresh cases, 35 came from the National Capital Region and 66 came from Region 7. Meanwhile, 152 came from other regions. Of the late cases, 48 came from NCR and only 6 were from Region 7. The remaining 136 were from other regions.
In the past weeks, there has been a spike in the number of new cases from Region 7. This is after Cebu was declared as a hotspot of the outbreak after an increase in cases in certain villages and jails.
The DOH started using the new classification of additional cases during the last week of May after new cases spiked supposedly because of more aggressive validation efforts. It has caused confusion among the public, but the DOH explained that it is needed to better see the actual situation of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
The reclassification also coincided with the shift to general community quarantine in Metro Manila, considered the epicenter of the outbreak, and other areas as government eased business and transportation restrictions.
During a DOH briefing on Thursday morning, experts from the University of the Philippines pointed out that the government should continue to watch out for NCR and Cebu because of its higher infection rate, based on current trends.
The global infections have reached 7.3 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, 3.4 million individuals have already recovered while 416,000 have died.
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