Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News
The Philippines on Monday listed 8,167 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total number of people in the country who have contracted the coronavirus to 1,605,762.
It is the fourth straight day that daily cases topped 8,000, noted the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group, as government assumes there is already community transmission of the COVID-19 Delta variant in the country.
The Department of Health said that of the total recorded cases, 62,615 or 3.9 percent are active. The ABS-CBN IRG said this is also the 4th straight day that active infections counted more than 60,000.
The last time that active cases went above 60,000 was a month and a half ago, or last June 18 when there were 61,585, per DOH records, said the ABS-CBN IRG.
The number of active cases in previous days has been adjusted for duplicates.
The number of recoveries rose by 9,095 to 1,515,054. This is only the second time in more than a month when new recoveries breached the 9,000-mark, according to the ABS-CBN IRG.
The last time was on Saturday when the DOH announced 9,117 recoveries. Before that, it was last June 27 when the agency announced 9,612 recoveries.
Meanwhile, the death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 28,093 after the DOH recorded 77 recent fatalities. The total accounts for 1.75 percent of all confirmed cases.
The number of additional deaths is the lowest in six days, or since July 27 when 72 were announced by the DOH, said the ABS-CBN IRG.
This is also the first time in five days that the number of deaths announced fell below 100, the research group added.
"Nineteen cases previously tagged as recoveries have been validated to be active cases and 29 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation," the DOH said in a statement.
Ninety-four duplicates, including 20 recoveries, were removed from the total case count, it added.
One laboratory was not operational last Saturday while 3 other facilities were unable to submit their data to the government's central repository system, the DOH said.
The Philippines' capital region on Friday will be placed under the strictest lockdown classification for the third time since the pandemic began last year as the country battles the spread of the more virulent Delta variant.
The enhanced community quarantine classification for Metro Manila will take effect until Aug. 20, 2021.
"Kalahati po ng ating mga probinsya at siyudad ay nagpapakita na ng pagtaas ng kaso," Health spokesperson Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press conference earlier in the day.
(Half of our provinces and cities are showing an increase in cases.)
The DOH did not name areas where the increase in cases was being observed.
There is also an uptick in the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the country, Vergeire said.
"Fina-flag na po natin na tumataas na ang numero ng mga namamatay based on our analysis," she said.
(We are already flagging an increase in deaths based on our analysis.)
"Dumadami po yung severe and critical cases... We need to focus on our vulnerables para mapigilan natin ang mga pagkakamatay sa ating bansa," she said.
(Severe and critical cases are rising... We need to focus on our vulnerables so that we can stop the deaths in our country.)
The national government hopes that the 2-week lockdown in the capital region would slow down the spread of the Delta variant and alleviate congestion in hospitals, Vergeire said.
"Mas prepared po tayo ngayon. Mas may armas po tayo ngayon... Mayroon po tayong mga bakuna," she said.
(We are more prepared now. We have weapons now... We have vaccines.)
"Mas kaya natin ngayon pero kailangan natin ang tulong ng bawat isa," she said.
(We are more capable now but we need each and everyone's help.)
As of August 1, the Philippines has fully inoculated 9.1 million individuals.
The country needs to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos to attain herd immunity against the disease.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/02/21/philippines-covid-19-cases-breach-16-million-mark
