Another 6,784 people have contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), pushing the total of active cases nationwide to over 58,000.

The Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday, May 14, that the active cases in the Philippines stood at 58,986. This figure accounts for 5.2 percent of the country’s total caseload of 1,131,467.

Of the active cases, 93.5 percent have mild symptoms, 2.3 percent asymptomatic, 1.3 percent are critical, 1.8 percent severe, and 1.13 percent moderate.

The DOH also listed on Friday 2,972 new patients who have recovered, raising the total number of survivors to 1,053,523.

However, the death toll also rose by 137 to 18,958. The country’s case fatality rate is at 1.68 percent.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire noted the continuous decline in COVID-19 cases being reported daily.

“Nakita natin bumababa ang numero ng mga kaso, average daily cases are decreasing... Nakita natin ang healthcare utilization, unti-unti natin napapaluwag (We have seen the number of cases/average daily cases decrease. Gradually, we are able to ease the healthcare utilization),” she added.

“Dati meron tayong ICU bed utilization as high as 88 percent. Ngayon ang ICU bed utilization ay nasa 67 percent nalang (We used to have ICU bed utilization as high as 88 percent. Currently, our ICU bed utilization is only at 67 percent),” she added.

Even though the Greater Manila area shifted to general community quarantine “with heightened restrictions,” Vergeire reminded the public not to be complacent.

“Ang sa atin lang, base sa mga indicators na meron tayo, base sa pag-aaral ng ibang agencies at eksperto, nakikita natin na kakayanin natin kung tayo ay magkakaroon ng GCQ with heightened restrictions (Based on the indicators we have and studies made by other agencies and experts, we see that we can cope if we have a GCQ with heightened restrictions),” she said.

“This is to balance off economic losses at dahil sa economic losses, madami na tayong kababayan na nagugutom. This hunger and lack of work ay meron din epekto sa kalusugan ng isang tao, so kailangan natin ibalanse (This is to balance off economic losses. Due to economic losses, many of our countrymen are already starving. This hunger and lack of work also has an effect on a person's health, so we need to balance it), ” she said.