(MANILA BULLETIN / FILE PHOTO)
The Philippines saw another record for the number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in a single day as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 19,441 new infections on Saturday, Aug. 28.
This latest count beat the previous highest daily count last Aug. 23 with 18,332 cases then.
Active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 142,679, the DOH said. Of these cases, 95.5 percent were mild, 1.8 percent were without symptoms, 0.6 percent were in critical condition, 1.1 percent were severe, and 0.99 percent were in moderate condition.
The DOH previously reported that most of the new cases were found in the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal,Quezon), and Central Visayas.
The Philippines cumulative tally of confirmed cases already increased to 1,935,700.
“Nakikita pa rin po natin ang patuloy na pagtaas ng mga kaso dito sa ating bansa (We are still seeing a steady increase in cases here in our country) these past weeks and even this week,” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a public briefing.
Amid the threat of the highly transmissible Delta coronavirus variant, the public should still expect a high number of fresh COVID-19 cases being reported daily, said Vergeire.
“We expect that the number of cases will continue to increase in the coming days,” the DOH official said.
Meanwhile, 90.9 percent or 1,760,013 of the country’s total case count have already recovered. This figure includes the 19,191 recoveries reported on Saturday.
The death toll increased to 33,008 after 167 more patients died. The country’s case fatality rate is at 1.71 percent.
“Bilang proteksyon ng ating mga minamahal sa buhay, ipagpatuloy natin ang ating mahigpit na pagsunod sa minimum public health standards. Nanatiling ito ang pinakamabisang paraan upang iwasan ang pagkakahawa sa COVID-19 (For the protection of our loved ones, continue to strictly adhere to minimum public health standards. It remains the most effective way to prevent COVID-19 infection),” the DOH said.
