JUST 24 hours later, new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases spiked to 2,833 yesterday, according to the Department of Health, while 44 more deaths were reported, raising the number of fatalities to 5,091.
In its latest bulletin, the DOH said majority of the new cases came from the National Capital Region (NCR) with 1,222, followed by Cavite (228), Negros Occidental (206), Batangas (143), and Bulacan (141).
Last Tuesday, just 1,635 cases were reported by the DOH, the first time in more than two weeks that new cases did not exceed 3,000, raising hopes the country is really starting to flatten the curve.
Majority of the new deaths were recorded in NCR with 23. Other deaths were reported from CALABARZON (6), and Western Visayas (5).
There were 765 new recoveries, raising the total of survivors to 231,373.
Globally, as of September 22, there were 31,174,627 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 962,613 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
Six more overseas Filipinos died due to the COVID-19 virus while two more were infected, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The number of overseas Filipinos who succumbed to the virus now stands at 785 while the numbers of infections rose to 10,419 in 78 countries, though the DFA said 6,629 have recovered.
The six new fatalities were recorded in the Middle East, raising the number of Pinoys who died in the region to 504, the highest among the overseas Filipino community.
The Middle East and African regions also had the highest number of overseas Filipinos with infected with the virus at 7,068.
The Americas registered 178 deaths followed by 95 in Europe and 8 in the Asia Pacific region.
The Asia Pacific region has more confirmed cases at 1,366 compared to 1,177 in Europe and 808 in the Americas.
Meanwhile, the DOH shrugged off the No. 66 ranking given by the international medical journal Lancet to the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total f 91 countries were included in the study.
“There are rankings, and specific comments. But to us, we will just do our jobs continuously,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“Whatever these comments are, we will just continue with our work to combat this disease and care for our entire population,” she added.
“We are working together. We are doing a whole of nation, and a whole of society approach to this response that we have for COVID-19,” said Vergeire.
In a study published last September 14, the Lancet ranked 91 countries based on incidence or the number of new cases per million population per day. — With Ashzel Hachero
