PH COVID-19 count surpasses 400,000 after registering 1,672 new cases

MANILA – On Wednesday, total COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surpassed the 400,000 mark after the health department confirmed 1,672 new cases, official data showed.

The country’s total infections amounted to 401,416, of which 31,489 or 7.8 percent are active cases. The Philippines registered its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on January 30 in a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China, where the disease is believed to have originated.

The new cases of the day, however, do not include data from 8 accredited laboratories that did not submit data on time, according to the latest newsletter from the Department of Health (DOH).

For the second day in a row, Cavite province led the areas of the country that recorded the highest daily additional cases with 100, followed by Davao city with 99, Quezon city with 81, Batangas with 78 and Baguio city with 70 confirmed infections.

Cases of recoveries increased by 311 compared to the previous day. The total number of recovered patients stood at 362,217, representing 90.2 percent of the total registered cases.

The virus that causes the disease has claimed 49 more lives in the country, raising the death toll to 7,710.

The DOH said that most or 92.8 percent of active cases are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

Of the 20,047 people who were tested as of Tuesday noon, 1,168 or 5.8 percent tested positive for the disease, the DOH noted.

A total of 5 duplicates were removed from the total count, according to the health department. Of these, 3 were labeled as recovered cases.

Meanwhile, 10 cases initially labeled as recoveries were found to be deaths after validation.

The Philippines is ranked 25th on the list of countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases, according to the current tally by the US-based Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

More than 51 million worldwide have already contracted COVID-19, of which nearly 1.3 million have died, while more than 33 million have recovered, according to JHU’s coronavirus control panel.