BY ANALOU DE VERA
The Philippines recorded 283,460 COVID-19 cases after 3,962 new infections were recorded by the Department of Health (DoH) Saturday.
Of the 283,460 cases, 68,645 are active cases or those who are currently ill.
Metro Manila has the most number of cases with 1,440, followed by Bulacan, 354; Cavite, 287; Laguna, 282; and Batangas, 213.
The DoH reported 1,128 new recoveries and 100 fatalities, raising the total number of recoveries to 209,885 and the death toll to 4,930.
“Of the 100 deaths, 66 occurred this month, 16 in August, seven in July, four in June, and seven in April,” it noted.
Amid the number of cases reported daily, the DoH believes that the country’s response against the pandemic is improving.
“While we have seen improvements in our numbers, hindi pa tapos ang laban (the battle is not over),” said the DoH.
“We remain committed to improving our response and mitigation strategies as we learn more about the virus,” it added.
The DoH said that it saw improvements in the country’s doubling time in terms of cases and mortality and in the country’s critical care utilization rate.
As of Sept. 17, the case doubling time is at 10.84 days. “This is slightly better compared to the CDT last Aug. 17 which was 9.52 days,” the DoH said.
The mortality doubling time is 15.54 days as of Sept. 17 which the DoH said is better compared to the 13.96 days last Aug. 17. “We want longer MDT which means slower increase in the number of deaths,” it said.
As of Sept. 17, the national critical care utilization rate is at 45 percent compared to Aug. 17 which was 49 percent. “This improvement may have been the result of the One Hospital Command and the efforts of hospitals in ramping up their bed capacity for COVID-19,” the DoH said.
“We do (not) want the public to be complacent and to think that everything is already okay,” the DoH said.
“We are all fighting an invisible enemy and unless a vaccine has been made available or even then, walang kasiguraduhan. Ang tanging sigurado lamang ay mapoprotektahan tayo kapag tayo ay sumunod sa ating minimum health standards,” it added.
