COVID-19 cases in PH reach 334,770

MANILA – The Department of Health reported 2,996 additional cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the Philippines to 334,770.

This is the fifth day in a row that the newly announced cases have been below 3,000. Of the additional cases, 1,094 were from the National Capital Region.

The DOH said the daily count does not include results from 12 labs that did not submit data on time.

With 1,045 additional recovered patients and 83 additional coronavirus-related deaths, there are now 53,311 active cases in the country.

The total number of recoveries is 275,307, while the total number of deaths is 6,152.

With the exception of October 4 and September 28, the Philippines has recorded fewer than 3,000 cases a day for more than two weeks.

DOH said Monday that the average number of newly announced cases per day has recently dropped to 2,400 from around 3,000 in recent weeks. The decline was attributed to a better response to COVID-19 from the government, although recent reports show a greater number of labs not reporting results on time.

Since the end of last week, the Philippines has been among the top 20 countries with the most cumulative cases of COVID-19, according to the tally by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The OCTA Research Group, made up of professors from the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas, estimates that COVID-19 cases in the Philippines will reach 380,000 to 410,000 by the end of October.