THE Department of Health on Tuesday reported 264 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bringing the total to 11,350 infections.
There were 25 new fatalities, or a total of 751, and 107 more patients who have recovered, or 2,106 in all.
Metro Manila remains the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, with 64 percent of the total, or 7,286 cases, as of May 12.
Among the 16 cities and a town in the metropolis, Quezon City has the highest number of cases with 1,641 followed by Manila with 920, Parañaque City 542, Makati City 517, and Mandaluyong City with 508.
Other Metro Manila cities with high COVID-19 cases are Pasig with 381, Taguig City 330, Pasay City 274, Caloocan City 269, San Juan City 263, and Las Piñas City with 213.
Completing the list are Muntinlupa City with 193, Marikina City 152, Valenzuela City 139, Malabon City 74, Navotas City 47, and Pateros with 29.
On Tuesday, Malacañang announced that Metro Manila (National Capital Region), Laguna (Calabarzon region), and Cebu City (Central Visayas region) will be under a modified enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from May 16 to May 31. Metro Manila is under ECQ up to May 15.
Aside from the National Capital Region, regions with the highest number of cases are Central Visayas with 1,677 and Calabarzon with 1,323.
Other regions with a high number of COVID-19 cases are Central Luzon with 409, Davao 172, Western Visayas 103, Bicol 67, Ilocos 63, Zamboanga Peninsula 50, and Cordillera Administrative Region with 43.
COVID-19 cases are also present in Cagayan Valley and the Mimaropa regions with 34 each, Northern Mindanao with 19, Eastern Visayas 18; Soccsksargen 16, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao 11, and Caraga with 3.
Globally, the disease which first emerged in China late last year has infected 4,013,728 persons and killed 278,993 individuals in 215 countries and territories as of May 11, according to the World Health Organization.
TESTING TARGET
Despite failing to meet its target of 8,000 tests a day by the end of April, the DOH remains optimistic it can attain its goal of increasing the country’s daily testing capacity to 30,000 by May 30.
“We will achieve our goal of 30,000 test per day by May 30,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Monday night.
The national government has set the goal of having 8,000 daily testing capacity by April 30. But the DOH met the target only on May 11, with 8,637 tests.
Last week, Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force for COVID-19, said the government aims to be able to conduct 30,000 tests per a come May 30.
Vergeire said the goal can be attained through different strategies, such as maximizing the testing capacity of certified laboratories, streamlining the certification of more laboratories, engaging private sector partners, and utilizing other testing tools, such as GeneXpert diagnosis.
Currently, the DOH has 26 accredited laboratories which use the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kit, which has a turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours.
There are also seven accredited laboratories that use the Gene Xpert test kits, which can produce results after 45 minutes.
Sixty-four other laboratories are undergoing the accreditation process of the DOH.
Since March, the DOH has conducted 173,144 tests, with a current daily testing capacity pegged at 8,637.
However, the backlog of tests validation currently stands at 3,894.
Vergeire reiterated that increasing the country’s testing capacity is crucial in ending the pandemic as it will enable authorities to immediately isolate people with COVID-19.
“Early detection and isolation of new cases is critical to managing potential outbreaks,” said Vergeire.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan said government’s slow testing could lead to “unli” or unlimited enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila.
He called for an “aggressive,” continuous, and free mass testing and contact tracing.
PINOYS ABROAD
The Department of Foreign Affairs said among Filipinos in 46 other countries, 38 more were infected with COVID-19, bringing the total to 2,233.
The DFA also reported 25 new recoveries (total 669) and one new death, or a total of 261.
“Based on the latest figures, the total number of Filipinos who recovered from COVID-19, at 669, remains more than twice than the total fatalities and is now almost 30 percent of the total confirmed cases,” the DFA also said.
Ambassador to New Zealand Jesus Domingo said there has been no reported case of COVID-19 among Filipinos living and working in New Zealand.
At the “Laging Handa” public briefing, Domingo said the South Pacific country is getting ready to lift the lockdown on its population and going into a less stringent alert level.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Health posted 1,147 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,398 recoveries and 21 deaths.
“New Zealand had an excellent management and was in fact cited as one of the world’s best after imposing an early lockdown back in March. And the good thing here, the government and the opposition were in cooperation,” Domingo said.
“By the grace of God, no Filipino got sick. We did not get any report of even a single case either from the New Zealand government or from the Filipino community here,” he added.
New Zealanders cooperated with government authorities and accepted the conditions of the lockdown, staying in their homes and coming out only to buy necessities including food and medical supplies.
“Since the COVID situation has quite improved, we expect the lockdown situation to be lifted, going to what we call alert levels. So, we went from level four, level three, we will go to level two which basically allows people to go, in most cases …to work and school,” the ambassador said.
He said the Philippine Embassy in Wellington will also reopen next week although services have not been interrupted as services remained available to Filipinos even during lockdown through online registration.
Many health frontliners who served as nurses and support services in the country were Filipinos.
Domingo said the principal problem was the high number of Filipinos who were let go by their employees at the start of the lockdown although the Philippine government released cash assistance of $200 through the Department of Labor and Employment and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
“There were some who came to us regarding immediate assistance like food and places to stay. We’re coordinating also with New Zealand authorities because they extend assistance through food banks and civil defense,” he said.
As of April 20, the Philippine diplomatic office has also assisted repatriation flights out of New Zealand for 60 Filipinos from Auckland to Manila. –With Raymond Africa, Ashzel Hachero and Peter Tabingo
