The Philippines now 58,850 confirmed coronavirus cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday, July 15.

The single-day increase again reached above 1,000 – specifically 1,392 new cases Wednesday. Of these, 512 are fresh cases and 880 are late cases.

There were 836 new infections on Monday and 634 on Tuesday.

11 deaths were tallied Wednesday, bringing the total toll to 1,614.

New recoveries Wednesday were at 517, which raised the total recoveries to 20,976.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday said that  the Philippines has “successfully flattened the curve since April,” even though the COVID-19 caseload continued to swell.

Duque cited the longer case doubling time, or the period it takes for infections to double in size. Currently, the Philippines’ case doubling time is 8.18 days.

The interior department floated the idea of a house-to-house operation to be led by the police to find coronavirus patients and transfer them to government quarantine facilities, in order to curb further spread in the community.

But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said this was not discussed by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and said that should it be approved, barangay health workers must take the lead and not the police.

There were several legal issues with house-to-house searches for coronavirus patients, including violations of the rights to privacy and security of abode, and potential vulnerabilities to arrests if patients do not comply.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, a former human rights lawyer, said the plan was legal and that it would be like a “paid-for-vacation,” completely overlooking the terrible experiences of returning seafarers, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and local residents in government facilities. – Rappler.com