Coronavirus cases nearing 200,000 as deaths reach 3,038
THE Department of Health (DoH) reported 2,965 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, bringing the total to 197,164.
The death toll increased by 34 to 3,038 while recoveries rose by 368 to 132,396, it said in a bulletin.
There were 61,730 active cases, 91.6% of which were mild, 6.1% did not show symptoms, 0.9% were severe and 1.4% were critical.
Metro Manila had the highest number of new cases with 1,575, followed by Negros Occidental with 237, Laguna with 151, Cavite with 129, and Batangas with 95, DoH said.
The new cases came from tests done by 86 out of 109 licensed laboratories.
Of the new deaths, 22 came from Metro Manila, four from Central Visayas, three from the Calabarzon region, two from Bicol and one each from Northern Mindanao, Mimaropa and returning overseas Filipinos.
More than 2.2 million individuals have been tested, the agency said.
The coronavirus has sickened 23.8 million and killed more than 817,000 people worldwide, according to the Worldometers website, citing various sources including data from the World Health Organization.
More than 16,000 people have recovered from the virus, it said.
Meanwhile, DoH said fewer children have been immunized for polio in the second quarter, when much of the country was locked down to contain the pandemic.
A Dengvaxia controversy had also led to fewer children being vaccinated against polio, Maria Wilda Silva, an immunization program manager at DoH, said at an online news briefing.
“It is very difficult to do a campaign in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic,” she said. Only a quarter of polio vaccine candidates had received their third dose, she added.
Metro Manila and the Calabarzon region particularly had lower vaccine coverage, Ms. Silva said.
In contrast, Mindanao in southern Philippines had a vaccine coverage of 98.1% from July to early August due to strong support from regional offices and local governments, she said.
A polio outbreak was announced in September last year after at least 15 children aged nine years and below getting the virus. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
