THE DEPARTMENT of Health reported 1,530 coronavirus infections on Sunday, bringing the total to 407,838.

The death toll rose by 41 to 7,832, while recoveries increased by 11,290 to 374,329, it said in a bulletin.

There were 25,677 active cases, 82.5% of which were mild, 8.4% did not show symptoms, 5.6% were critical, 3.2% were severe and 0.2% were moderate.

Cavite reported the highest number of new cases at 90, followed by Rizal at 84, Manila at 79, Davao City at 78 and Taguig City at 73.

The Philippine government earlier said it was considering orders for 24 million units of coronavirus vaccines and may start inoculating Filipinos by May..

The vaccines might be ordered in the first quarter, said Carlito Galvez Jr., who is in charge of the state’s vaccine import and distribution program.

The inoculation program might start as late as the end of next year if vaccine development and manufacturing are delayed, he said.

The coronavirus has sickened about 54.4 million and killed 1.3 million people worldwide, according to the Worldometers website, citing various sources including data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

About 37.9 million people have recovered, it said.

It added that active cases stood at 15.1 million, 1% or 98,193 of which were either serious or critical.

The United States had the most infections at 11.2 million, followed by India with 8.8 million and Brazil with 5.8 million. The US also had the most deaths at 251,256, Brazil had 165,673 and India had 129,674.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte last month said the government had funds to buy coronavirus vaccines, but it needs more so the entire population of more than 100 million could be inoculated.

He said he would look for more funds so all Filipinos could be vaccinated. The President said he was okay with vaccines developed either by Russia or China.

Mr. Duterte said he had spoken with outgoing Russian Ambassador Igor A. Khovaev and was told that Russia intends to set up a pharmaceutical company in the Philippines that will make the vaccines available here.

He said soldiers and the police will be among the first ones to be vaccinated, along with poor Filipinos. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR