By ANALOU DE VERA
The Department of Health announced 1,902 new COVID-19 cases Friday, pushing the Philippines’ total to 404,713.
The country has recorded below 2,000 COVID cases daily for the fourth straight day.
The DoH said that 29 laboratories were not able to submit their latest case data on time and were not yet included in this count.
The laboratories that failed to submit their data were “affected by the typhoon (“Ulysses”),” the DoH noted.
Of the cumulative total, 34,058 patients are still ill, the DoH said.
Cavite logged the highest number of new cases with 122 followed by Davao City with 113, Quezon City with 84, Bulacan with 81, and Manila with 78, the DoH case bulletin showed.
The DoH also confirmed the death of 31 more patients, raising the death toll to 7,752. However, 506 new survivors were reported, bringing the number of recoveries to 362,903.
According to the DoH, nine duplicates were removed from the overall tally. “Of these, seven were recovered cases. Moreover, 13 previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths,” it noted.
Meanwhile, the DoH said there is still no indication yet to place Cebu City under enhanced community quarantine.
DoH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire made the statement when asked about the proposal to put Cebu City in strictest lockdown again due to rise in cases.
“When we look at the numbers, it really doesn’t warrant such a lockdown,” said Vergeire.
“There are no indications that require a lockdown in Cebu City,” she added.
The Health official said that Cebu City’s hospital care utilization rate is at 24 percent.
“This means they still have 76 percent of their health system capacity available to patients. They are well within what we call as safe zone,” she said.
Last Nov. 12, Councilor Joel Garganera said that Cebu City may again be placed under ECQ due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the past seven days.
