COVID-19

PH coronavirus cases top 160,000, new recoveries hit record high

Rappler.com

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PH coronavirus cases top 160,000, new recoveries hit record high

Health workers conducts community rapid testing due to the growing number of confirmed cases of local transmission of COVID-19 at San Andres , Manila on May 1, 2020. Photo by Dante Diosina Jr/Rappler

Photo by Dante Diosina Jr/Rappler

A record 40,397 new recoveries are reported on Sunday, August 16, nearly all of which are part of the Department of Health's time-based recovery program

Coronavirus cases in the Philippines climbed past 160,000 on Sunday, August 16, with over 3,400 new confirmed cases.

The Department of Health (DOH) also reported more than 40,000 new recoveries – a new one-day tally – nearly all of which are part of its time-based recovery program.

A total of 3,420 new cases were reported on Sunday, bringing the country’s COVID-19 caseload to 161,253.

New cases reported have exceeded 3,000 since July 30, except on August 11 when it went just below that threshold, at 2,987 new cases.

Of the new cases on Sunday, 2,091 were from Metro Manila, 263 from Laguna, 149 from Cavite, 137 from Batangas, and 106 from Rizal. (READ: Why are coronavirus cases still increasing in the Philippines?)

The DOH also reported 40,397 new recoveries, bringing the total number to 112,586. This results in 46,002 active COVID-19 cases, down from 83,109 recorded on Saturday, August 15.

The high number of recoveries on Sunday was once again due to the DOH’s Oplan Recovery, where mild and asymptomatic cases are tagged as recoveries based on discharging criteria by the World Health Organization and endorsed by Philippine medical societies.

The criteria uses a time-based and symptoms-based strategy of assessing patients. Before they are allowed to end quarantine or isolation, they should be cleared by a licensed medical doctor.

“Of the 40,397 total new recoveries, 914 were based on what was reported while 39,483 were time-based recoveries,” the DOH said on Sunday.

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EXPLAINER: How DOH tracks coronavirus recoveries

EXPLAINER: How DOH tracks coronavirus recoveries

The department previously implemented Oplan Recovery on July 13, with 4,325 new recoveries, and on July 30, with most of the 38,075 cases back then tagged as recovered. The DOH had announced that starting August 16, it will run Oplan Recovery every Sunday.

Death toll

The country’s COVID-19 death toll also went up to 2,665, after 65 cases were added.

Among these fatalities, 46 were from Metro Manila, 13 from Central Visayas, 3 from Calabarzon, and one each from Central Luzon, Bicol, and Davao Region.

In addition, 29 of the 65 deaths happened in August, another 29 in July, and 7 in June.

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The DOH also reported that 85 duplicates have been removed from the total case count, as part of the cleaning and validation of case records. Among these are 5 recovered cases from previous reports.

The department also said 12 of 15 cases previously reported as recoveries were found to have died, while the other 3 were found to be active cases. – Rappler.com

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