LESS than four months into 2021, the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases has already surpassed the total number for the whole of 2020 while the death toll rose to 16,141 after 93 more patients succumbed to the deadly virus.
In its latest bulletin, the Department of Health said the total number of infections in the country has risen to 953,106 counting the 7,379 new cases reported yesterday.
In all, 479,042 cases have been reported from January 1 to April 20, 2021, higher than the 474,064 total cases reported from January 30 to December 31, 2020.
The DOH said the latest batch of new cases does not include figures from eight laboratories that failed to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS) on April 19, 2021.
The DOH also said that 19 laboratories have stopped testing operations as of April 18 but did not explain why.
There were 21,664 more recoveries, meaning the total number of survivors is up to 809,959. The DOH said this means that 85 percent of COVID patients have recovered.
Active cases dipped to 127,006, of which 96.9 percent are mild cases, 1.3 percent asymptomatic cases, 0.7 percent severe cases, 0.6 percent critical cases, and 0.48 percent moderate cases.
Nineteen more overseas Filipinos have tested positive for the deadly virus, bringing the total tally to 18,160, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The DFA also reported six new fatalities and 13 recoveries.
The number of overseas Filipinos who have lost their fight against the virus rose to 1,121 while the number of survivors climbed to 11,162.
The Middle East and African regions still have the highest number of positive overseas Filipinos as well as deaths with 10,422 and 732, respectively.
The Asia Pacific region had the second highest number of cases with 3,477 but the lowest death toll with only 26.
Europe has reported 3,332 cases and 130 deaths among members of the Filipino community while the Americas had the lowest number of cases with only 930 but the second highest death toll at 234. — With Ashzel Hachero
