The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines passed 173,000 on Wednesday, August 19, as the Department of Health (DOH) reported more than 4,600 cases.
The DOH said that 4,650 new infections were confirmed, raising the country's tally to 173,774. The number of active cases is at 57,498.
Most of the new cases were from Metro Manila at 3,092 or 66.5 per cent (two-thirds) of the total. It was followed by Cavite with 249, Laguna with 194, Rizal with 189, and Bulacan with 136.
The total number of patients who have already recovered jumped to 113,481 as the DOH said that 716 more people survived the respiratory illness.
Meanwhile, the death toll increased to 2,795 with 111 new fatalities. Of the new deaths, the DOH noted that 76 happened in August, 13 in July, eight in June, nine in May, and five in April.
“There were 89 duplicates that were removed from the total case count. Of these, 69 were recovered and two deaths have been removed,” the DOH said.
The Metro Manila and its nearby provinces were placed again under the general community quarantine. The country’s medical community previously asked for a “timeout” or a stricter quarantine measure in Metro Manila in order to slow down the rise in the number of cases and recalibrate strategies against COVID-19.
The COVID-19 cases worldwide has already reached 21.2 million, including 761,000 deaths, based on the data of the World Health Organization.