Philippines Records 199 new COVID-19 cases, Total At 9,684

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines rose by 199 on Tuesday to a total of 9,684 cases of infections.

The Department of Health (DOH) said 93 more patients have recovered from the virus, raising the country’s total number of recoveries to 1,408.

However, the DOH reported 14 new deaths. The country’s COVID-19 death toll now has reached 637.

The DOH said 173, or 87 percent of the daily cases, were reported in Metro Manila, one case, or 0.5 percent, from the Central Visayas region in the central Philippines, while 25 or 12.5 percent from other parts of the country.

Philippine Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual media briefing that 36,271 people have had close contact with the confirmed COVID-19 patients across the country. Many of these have already been traced but there are still a few that are being traced, she added.

Meanwhile, John Wong, who is part of the data analytic expert group of the government coronavirus task force, told a virtual media briefing that the case doubling time in the Philippines is now 4.6 days, or higher than the baseline of 2.5 days.

Wong, an associate professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, added that the flattening of the curve is now “more evident” in the National Capital Region (NCR), where majority of the virus cases are recorded.

At the briefing, Wong presented data from 10 days ago showing case doubling time at 4.6 days for Metro Manila, 5.8 days for the main island of Luzon excluding Metro Manila, 5.4 days for Visayas region in the central Philippines, and 5.3 days for Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

Vivencio Dizon, the deputy chief implementer of the government’s response to combat COVID-19, said the government’s goal is to build 78 testing laboratories across the country by May 31.

Dizon said that increasing the number of testing laboratories will further boost the country’s capacity to test more people and isolate them.

“Our target is to conduct 30,000 tests per day by May 30,” Dizon said in a televised briefing.