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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Record high: PH logs biggest daily increase with 7,103 new COVID-19 cases

Record high: PH logs biggest daily increase with 7,103 new COVID-19 cases

Published Mar 19, 2021 05:27 pm

The Philippines has set a new record for single-day coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases as the Department of Health (DOH) reported more than 7,000 new coronavirus infections on Friday, March 19.

Department of Health (DOH) (MANILA BULLETIN)
Department of Health (DOH) (MANILA BULLETIN)

In its latest case bulletin, the DOH announced 7,103 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking its tally of cases to 648,066.

Of the total, 73,264 are active cases or patients who are still undergoing treatment.

"Naitala ngayon ang pinakamataas na bilang ng kaso ng COVID-19, kaya patuloy na nananawagan ang DOH na manatili na lamang sa ating mga tahanan at iwasang lumabas kung hindi naman talaga kinakailangan (The highest number of COVID-19 cases has been recorded today, so the DOH is calling on the public to just stay in their respective homes and avoid going out when it is not really necessary)," the DOH said.

The previous record high was 6,958 reported last August 10, 2020, the time that the Philippines experienced a surge in cases, pushing the healthcare workers to call for a "timeout" as the hospitals got filled with coronavirus patients then.

The DOH also said that 13 new deaths were reported, pushing the total number of fatalities 12,900.

Meanwhile, 390 new recoveries were also listed, with the tally of survivors jumping to 561,902.

Amid this development, the Health department urged the public once again to strictly adhere to the minimum health standards to avoid being infected.

On March 16, the Octa Research Group already warned that the Philippines may see up to 11,000 cases daily if the trend of infections continues.

World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to the Philippines Rabindra Abeyasinghe on Friday said that “vaccine optimism” and the presence of the three more transmissible variants of coronavirus contributed to the rise in cases.

DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega in a press briefing on Thursday, March 18, said that the country is a lot more prepared in handling the situation as compared last year.

“If we are able to make sure that the public adheres to the minimum health standards and the executive power of the local government units to provide granular lockdowns or zonal containment --- these are effective (measures) and we’ve seen this last year,” he added.

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