The Department of Health (DoH) announced Friday that there are now more than 209,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.
The DoH recorded 3,999 new infections, pushing the total to 209,544. There are 71,745 patients who are still undergoing treatment.
Majority of the new cases reported came from the National Capital Region with 2,097. Laguna was next with 178, Cavite with 138, Batangas with 132, and Cebu with 125.
“There were 36 duplicates that were removed from the total case count,” the DoH said, noting that these figures “undergo constant cleaning and validation.”
The DoH also announced 510 more survivors, bringing the total to 134,474, while there were 91 new fatalities, taking the country's death count to 3,325.
Fifty-five of these deaths occurred in August, 33 in July, two in June, and one in May.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that they are still studying the impact of the two-week imposition of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
"'Yung sa ating two weeks, pinag-aaralan pa rin natin (We are still studying the effect of the two week stricter lockdown,” said Vergeire.
Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Rizal were reverted to MECQ from Aug. 4 to 18 after medical associations asked for a “time out.”
Vergeire reminded the public that the effect of the MECQ will be felt gradually, adding that MECQ was imposed to give healthcare workers a “breather” and to “recalibrate our strategies.”
“These things that we have done during these two weeks, we do not expect that the cases would drastically be reduced,” said Vergeire.
“But of course -- long term ayun po 'yung ating objective na with all of the strategies that we are doing, eventually, we can hopefully na mapababa itong mga numbers ng cases,” she added.
Vergeire said they observed that there is improvement when it comes to the bed occupancy rate in hospitals in Metro Manila
“Nakikita natin na de-decongest 'yung mga ospital. Nag hi-hit tayo, bago tayo mag MECQ, mga 86 (or) 81 percent sa occupancy rate sa National Capital Region,” she said.
“Ngayon naman, napapababa natin ng konti…. nasa 76 percent tayo. Although much is still wanting alam namin iyon pero at the very least nakikita natin na nakakapag decongest because nakikita rin natin 'yung number ng tao na napadala natin sa TTMF (temporary treatment and monitoring facilities) through Oplan: Kalinga (Now, we have lowered it a bit…. we are at 76 percent. Although many are still wanting we know that -- but at the very least, we see that we were able to decongest (the hospitals) because we were able to send some patients to TTMF through Oplan: Kalinga),” she added.
“As the days go by, as we do our analysis, makikita natin 'yung unti-unting epekto of the MECQ (As the days go by, as we do our analysis, we will see the gradual effect of the MECQ).”