BY ANALOU DE VERA
The country has recorded 252,964 COVID-19 cases after 4,040 new infections were reported by the Department of Health Friday.
The country reported more than 4,000 cases for the first time since Aug. 31.
Metro Manila had 1,813 of the new infections, followed by Cavite with 435, Rizal with 218, Bulacan with 195, and Laguna with 171.
The DoH said 62,250 of these cases are active or patients who are still ill and that 88.8 percent of the active cases are mild, 8.4 percent experience no symptoms, 1.1 percent are severe cases, while 1.7 percent are in critical condition.
Recoveries rose to 186,606 after 566 new survivors were announced. However, the death toll increased to 4,108 after 42 more people died due to the disease.
Twenty-five of the newly reported fatalities died this month, 11 in August, two in July, one in June, and three in April, the DoH said.
Last Wednesday, DoH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire announced that the public should anticipate a high number of cases reported in the coming days as laboratories comply with the submission of complete case data.
The Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is still studying the proposal to disallow home quarantine for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.
“Yesterday, this was discussed in IATF but the resolution was pag-aralan pang mas mabuti (Yesterday, this was discussed by the IATF but the resolution was to study it further),” said Vergeire.
“So nung nag-ikot ang National Task Force at saka DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government), nakita naman nila talaga na hindi appropriate ‘yung pagho-home quarantine ng marami sa ating mga kababayan (So when the National Task Force and the DILG visited areas, they really saw that some are not following the appropriate guidelines for home quarantine). That’s why this recommendation was put forth,” she added.
Patients are allowed to go on home quarantine if these conditions are strictly followed — the patient has his or her own room with a bathroom and there is no vulnerable person living in the house.
National COVID Task Force chief implementer Carlito Galvez said that the home quarantine scheme is among the causes of community transmission of COVID-19 in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.
Vergeire said that the DoH is set to meet officials from the Department of Transportation regarding the DOTr proposal to reduce physical distance between commuters in public transportation.
“We are talking with the DOTr on this matter, particularly on how we can do this without compromising the physical distance measure that we are saying,” said the Health official.
