FROM a three-day record high of 33,169, new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases dipped slightly to 28,007 yesterday, a development that pushed the country’s total infections to the three million mark for the first time since the deadly virus was detected in the country in January 2020.
In its latest bulletin, the Department of Health said total cases rose to 3,026,473, the second highest in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, while the toll climbed to 52,511, counting the 219 additional deaths for a case fatality rate of 1.74 percent.
The first confirmed COVID case in the country was reported on January 30, 2020, a 38-year-old female Chinese patient. There was no stopping the deadly virus from there, with the Philippines reaching the one million mark on April 26, 2021 and the two million mark on September 1, 2021.
The positivity rate in the Philippines stood at 44.5 percent among the 58,409 tested samples on January 9.
Active cases climbed to 181,016 from 157,526 last Monday, with over 170,800 mild cases and more than 5,500 asymptomatic cases.
The DOH also reported 4,471 additional recoveries, raising the number of survivors to 2,792,946.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said 17 more overseas Filipinos were infected with the deadly virus last week, bringing to 24,291 the total number, while 14 more recovered.
Since the pandemic began, 14,437 infected overseas Filipinos have recovered, leaving 8,400 still undergoing treatment.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has tested positive anew for COVID-19, the third time he has contracted the deadly disease.
“After several of my close contacts had tested positive, last night (Monday night) I also received a positive COVID-19 RT-PCR test result,” Año said in a statement.
“Thankfully, I remain asymptomatic as of now. I will continue to work while isolating,” added Año, a key member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases leading the fight against the virus.
Año first contracted the virus in March 2020. Five months later, he again tested positive and needed to be hospitalized.
PNP spokesman Col. Roderick Alba said he has also tested positive for COVID-19. He said the result of his test, conducted by the PNP Health Service, came out on Monday night.
As of yesterday, the PNP has recorded a total of 43,992 COVID-19 cases among its personnel. Of those infected, 41,455 have recovered, 125 have died, while 2,412 are active cases, including 537 new cases reported yesterday.
Six passengers of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 tested positive in random antigen tests given yesterday, according to Michael Capati, MRT3 Director for Operations.
Capati said 48 passengers volunteered to be tested, with 24 testing negative.
He said those who tested positive were immediately isolated and the local government units where they are residing informed so they could be fetched from the MRT station. — With Victor Reyes, Ashzel Hachero, and Noel Talacay
