The Philippines’ COVID-19 caseload neared 190,000 on Sunday, August 23, as over 2,000 new cases were added to the tally.

More than 16,000 new recoveries were also reported due to the Department of Health (DOH)’s weekly time-based counting of recoveries.

The DOH announced 2,378 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the country’s total confirmed cases to 189,601. Of the total number, 55,236 are active cases.

Almost half of the newly reported cases or 1,022 are from Metro Manila. Nearby provinces like Cavite had 132 new cases; Laguna, 128; and Rizal, 115. Rounding up the top 5 is Cebu with 96 new cases. (READ: Why are coronavirus cases still increasing in the Philippines?)

This is the lowest one-day tally for new cases since July 29, when 1,874 new cases were reported. From July 30 to August 22, new cases exceeded 3,000 daily, except on August 11, when it went just below that threshold, at 2,987.

The DOH also reported 16,459 new recoveries, for a total of 131,367 recoveries in the Philippines.

Thousands of reported recoveries are expected every Sunday due to the DOH’s Oplan Recovery initiative, 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.

Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 death toll neared 3,000 on Sunday. It went up to 2,998, after 32 new deaths were reported.

Among these fatalities, 22 were from Metro Manila, 4 from Central Visayas, 2 from Bicol, and 1 each from Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, and Caraga.

In addition, 20 of the 32 deaths happened in August, 8 in July, 3 in June, and 1 in May.

The DOH noted that 26 duplicates were removed from the total case count, as part of the cleaning and validation of case records. Among these are 9 recovered cases from previous reports. 

The department also said 4 cases previously reported as recoveries were found to have died. – Rappler.com