The Philippines recorded 3,249 more people infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of Health (DOH) announced on Thursday, August 27.
The new infections pushed the country’s total number of cases to 205,581, of which, 68,357 are active cases, the DOH said.
Most of the new patients are from Metro Manila at 1,584. This was followed by Cavite which logged 147 more cases, Laguna had 143, Negros Occidental had 140, and Batangas with 123 cases.
There were also 566 more patients who got well, while fatalities increased by 97. The tally on recoveries now reached to 133,990 and the death toll to 3,234.
Among the 97 new deaths, 40 died in August, 51 in July, five in June, and one in April, the DOH said.
Meanwhile, the DOH said that 29 duplicates were removed from the total case count as it continues to clean and validate the figures.
Flattening of the curve
The DOH said that it is too early to say whether the country’s COVID-19 situation is headed to the recent projection from experts from the University of the Philippines that the COVID-19 curve may be flatten by end of August or September.
“As for the trend in the number of COVID-19 cases reported for the past few days, it is still early to tell if this is moving towards the projection of the UP OCTA team,” the DOH said in a statement.
“We aim to decrease the number of cases by minimizing exposure and spread because we don’t want to overwhelm our health system,” it added.
The DOH noted that “there are always presumptions with any forecast.”
“What will ultimately determine how well we respond to this pandemic is how well we practice our prescribed minimum public health standards and how cooperative we are with our government’s strategies,” it added.
Mega facility in Laguna
In a related development, government officials on Thursday inspected a facility in Calamba, Laguna which is being converted as a quarantine center for COVID-19 patients.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III, along with National Action Plan Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez and Deputy Chief Implementer Secretary Vince Dizon, led the inspection.
The officials inspected the CALABARZON Regional Government Center which is now being transformed into a COVID-19 Mega quarantine facility. The DOH said that it will have 553 cubicles, nurse stations, quarters for healthcare workers, with toilet and shower rooms for patients.
“ will be a big boost to the government’s effort in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. As we ramp up our testing capacity, we are also increasing our bed capacity for isolation and quarantine. These two should go hand in hand,” said Duque.
The facility is expected to begin operations by early September.