Philippines virus count exceeds 370,000

MANILA – The Philippines confirmed 2,223 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the country’s total to 370,028.

The Health Department also reported 14,944 new recoveries as DOH implemented its weekly “massive recovery”, bringing the total number of Filipinos who recovered from the disease to 328,036.

This meant that the country has a total of 35,015 active cases as of 4 p.m. Sunday.

Forty-three more deaths from the disease were reported, bringing the death toll from COVID-19 in the Philippines to 6,977.

Quezón City had the highest number of new infections with 112. Laguna province ranked second with 111 new infections, followed by Rizal province with 109, Cavite with 79 and Batangas with 74.

Despite implementing one of the longest and most stringent lockdowns in the world, the country ranks 20th in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country was that of a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, China.

Worldwide, the new coronavirus has infected more than 42.96 million people and caused more than 1.15 million deaths since it first appeared in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

The United States remains the most affected country with more than 8.82 million infections and more than 230,000 deaths.

India follows the US with more than 7.86 million infections. Brazil ranks third with more than 5.38 million infections, but is second in terms of deaths with more than 153,000 deaths from COVID-19.