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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 4) – The Department of Health (DOH) reported 987 more COVID-19 infections in the country on Wednesday, the first time that new cases fell below a thousand since July 14.
The latest addition raised the nationwide case count to 388,137. Of this number, 31,679, or 8.2 percent, are active cases or currently ill patients, according to the case report.
The DOH clarified, however, that 12 testing labs did not submit their reports on time and they were not yet included in the updated count.
In addition, he explained that the drop in the figures is “part of the effects” of Typhoon Rolly, which hit various parts of the country on Sunday, knocking down the electricity supply and damaging facilities, including health centers.
The DOH said this decline can still be seen in the coming days, but warned that “it may be followed by a relative ‘increase’ in new cases reported in the next few days or weeks.”
The country had registered more than 1,000 to 2,000 new cases in the last three weeks, except for October 16, when new cases exceeded 3,000.
The most recent data showed that the highest number of new cases was registered in the city of Davao with 136. It was followed by the province of Iloilo with 67, followed by the city of Quezon with 47, the city of Taguig with 43 and the city of Iloilo with 41.
The DOH also confirmed that 140 more patients survived the disease, while 49 more died. These raised the counts to 349,091 recoveries and 7,367 deaths.
The department added that 11 duplicates were removed from the total case count as part of the data cleansing process, while 13 cases mistakenly reported as recoveries were re-labeled as deaths after final validation.
In its report released Tuesday, a research group monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country identified nine areas nationwide at risk of experiencing a high hospital burden in the coming weeks. These include the cities of Makati and Malabon in Metro Manila, the city of Baguio, the cities of Itogon and Tuba in Benguet, the city of Lucena in Quezon, the city of Iloilo, the city of Catarman in northern Samar and the city of Pagadian in Zamboanga del Sur.
The group urged national and local officials to intensify their efforts against the virus again, saying that the positive downward trends observed across the country “can easily be reversed, as evidenced by current and very large outbreaks in Europe and the US. “
READ: Research group identifies 9 LGUs as high-risk areas for COVID-19
Among Filipinos abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that 16 more contracted the virus, while three other patients recovered. Meanwhile, no new deaths were recorded.
There are now 11,380 confirmed cases in that sector, including 7,357 recoveries and 828 deaths, the DFA said.
Globally, the Johns Hopkins University tracker showed that some 47.4 million people have been infected with COVID-19. More than 1.2 million of this number succumbed to the disease, while more than 31.6 million recovered.
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