Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Monday, March 22 that half of the 8,019 new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country are from the National Capital Region (NCR).
In a meeting with President Duterte,Duque also reported that 1,327 cases came from Region4A, 542 from Region 3, and 2,047 from other regions.
As of March 22, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country was at 671,792.
The more than 8,000 new cases recorded was higher than the 7,999 cases recorded on March 20.
When asked for the increase in the cases, the Health chief cited the varians such as the United Kingdom and South Africa as one possible reason for this.
"We cannot say that this is the only reason for the surge in cases...because the most common variant is still the Hong Kong lineage which accounts for about 24 to 25 percent of all the samples that were sequenced," Duque said.
He said the loosening in quarantine as well as the opening of the economy may have also contributed.
"The increased mobility of people led to increased transmission, increased contact rate," Duque said.
He then appealed to the public to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by following the minimum health protocols by wearing face masks, faceshield and maintaining physical distancing.