COVID-19 cases in PH breach 220,000, as projected by UP research group
Posted at Aug 31 2020 04:04 PM | Updated as of Aug 31 2020 07:31 PM
MANILA (UPDATE) — Seven months since confirming its first case, and as recently projected by researchers from the University of the Philippines, the country’s cumulative total of coronavirus infections breached the 220,000-mark on Monday, as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,446 additional cases.
According to the DOH, there are now 220,819 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, of which, 59,699 are active.
This is only slightly higher than the UP OCTA Research Group’s projection of 220,000 total cases by the end of August, which took into account the two-week breather for health workers when stricter lockdown measures were implemented in Metro Manila and nearby areas on Aug. 4-18.
This is only slightly higher than the UP OCTA Research Group’s projection of 220,000 total cases by the end of August, which took into account the two-week breather for health workers when stricter lockdown measures were implemented in Metro Manila and nearby areas.
With 165 additional recovered patients and 38 new deaths, there are now a total recoveries of 157,562, and 3,558 total fatalities
Of the 3,446 additional cases, which is based on tests done by 97 out of 110 laboratories, more than half or 1,900 are from the National Capital Region (NCR), 163 from Laguna, 161 from Cavite, 155 from Leyte, and 116 from Pampanga.
Majority or 86% of these additional cases are from the last two weeks, with NCR again comprising of more than half, followed by Region 4A. There were 5 cases from March, 11 from April, 7 from May, 8 from June, and 45 from July.
Majority of the additional 38 deaths are also from August and NCR.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday said while they no longer have backlogs for validation, which now only takes 24 hours, some laboratories may submit late cases as they clean their own records. This, she said, explains cases reported from earlier months.
A total of 23 duplicate cases were removed from the previous count, including 4 tagged as recoveries.
“There were two (2) cases that were previously reported as recovered but after final validation, they were deaths,” the DOH added.
The Philippines has been logging 2,000 to almost 7,000 additional COVID-19 cases since late July, following the easing of quarantine measures and the gradual opening up of the economy.
The UP OCTA group has said they expect cases in the Philippines to reach 330,000 to up to 375,000 by the end of September.
The country’s first confirmed COVID-19 case was reported on Jan. 30 in a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China where the disease is believed to have first emerged.
Since the start of the pandemic, 25.2 million people have been infected by the COVID-19 virus, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, 846,000 have died and 16.6 million have recovered.
