Philippines’ Covid-19 cases hit 348,000
Published on: Saturday, October 17, 2020
By: CNN Philippines
Parishioners sit outside the Quiapo church in Manila, as health protocols imposed by authorities limit churchgoers inside the church to filling only 10 percent of their seating capacity.
MANILA: Coronavirus cases in the Philippines climbed by 2,261 on Thursday, with the tally hitting 348,698, the Department of Health reported.Of the total count, 48,040 or around 14 percent are active cases or currently ill patients, the DOH said.
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Metro Manila still recorded the highest increase in cases nationwide with 566, followed by Cavite with 174.
Instead of other Calabarzon provinces which usually make it to the top five list, the latest bulletin showed Pangasinan came third with 145 new infected residents, followed by Northern Samar with 104, and Quezon with 98.
The department added that the number of recovered patients rose to 294,161, after it listed 385 more.
It also confirmed 50 new fatalities, which raised the death toll to 6,497. Thirty-four of the newly reported deaths occurred in October, nine in September, and seven in June to August.
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Fourteen testing laboratories were not able to submit their case reports on time and were not yet included in the latest report, the DOH said.
After final validation, seven cases mistakenly reported as recoveries also turned out to be deaths, while 99 duplicates were removed from the overall tally, including 77 recoveries and two deaths.
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Indonesia has outpaced the Philippines in having the highest Covid-19 tally in Southeast Asia after it announced over 4,000 new cases on Thursday, taking its total to 349,160.
The neighbouring country’s Covid-19 death toll is nearly twice of the Philippines’ at 12,156, while its recovery count is at 273,661.
In his address Wednesday night, President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants all Filipinos vaccinated against Covid-19, with the poor, the police, and soldiers getting priority.
According to the World Health Organisation, however, when a vaccine becomes available, it should first be administered to high-risk groups, including frontline health and social care workers, people over the age of 65, and those with underlying conditions.
Food and Drug Administration chief Eric Domingo on Thursday said he is optimistic that before the year ends, a few Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials would have already started in the country. Philippine officials expect to get access to a vaccine by April 2021 at the earliest.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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