Coronavirus cases reach 3,660; death toll at 163
THE Department of Health reported 414 more coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total to 3,660.
Eleven more patients died, raising the death toll to 163, it said in a bulletin. Nine more patients recovered, bringing the total of those who have gotten well to 73, it added.
Meanwhile, medical experts from Japan and South Korea will visit Manila to assess the country’s anti-COVID-19 response, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said.
This after a team of Chinese experts came here to help the government come up with policies to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
The foreign experts’ visits will be scheduled to ensure there’s enough local health personnel to accompany them, Mr. Duque told radio DZBB.
Ten Chinese medical experts arrived here on Sunday and will stay until April 19 to share their technical advice on the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the country.
The group would visit the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, San Lazaro Hospital and Lung Center of the Philippines and other quarantine facilities to train local medical professionals, the Health department said.
Mr. Duque said the Chinese experts, who have firsthand experience in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan City where the virus was first detected, will share their knowledge on infection prevention and control measures, surveillance, treatment protocols and case management.
meanwhile, Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara said he had recovered from the COVID-19 after testing negative for the virus and being cleared of pneumonia.
Mr. Angara said he was released on Monday after several days of being confined in the hospital.
“After several days in the emergency room and the COVID-19 wing, my doctors finally sent me home today — negative for the virus and pneumonia-free,” he said in a social media post on Monday.
He was the third senator to test positive for COVID-19 after Senators Juan Miguel F. Zubiri and Aquilino L Pimentel III.
Mr. Angara took the test on March 16 after experiencing mild fever, cough, headache, and general weakness. He got his result on March 26.
Mr. Zubiri on March 27 said he no longer had symptoms, but opted to extend his self-quarantine to 21 days or until April 1. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas and Charmaine A. Tadalan