MANILA – The country’s single-day coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) cases reached a new record-high on Friday with infections breaching the 9,000 mark.
Based on the data of the Department of Health (DOH) on Friday afternoon, there were 9,838 new COVID-19 infections which surpassed the previous single-day record of 8,733 on Thursday.
The total number of infections in the country rose to 702,856. Still excluded are the seven laboratories that failed to submit their data on time according to the DOH.
From the total cases, 109,018 are active cases wherein 95.1 percent are mild, three percent are asymptomatic, 0.8 percent are severe, and 0.7 percent are in critical condition.
DOH logged 633 new recoveries which pushed the country’s total number of recoveries to 580,689. There were 54 new deaths recorded which comprised the 13,149 fatalities in the country.
Even with the number of COVID-19 cases a day is close to reaching the 10,000 mark, the government task force monitoring the pandemic is not yet considering National Capital Region’s (NCR) shift to stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
According to the Department of Interior and Local Government undersecretary Epimaco Densing III, the possible MECQ shift in NCR was not discussed during the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases meeting on Thursday.
The OCTA Research group earlier suggested the MECQ shift for NCR and four nearby provinces such as Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal instead of the stricter general community quarantine.
The group said it would take weeks to address the surge in infections and see the effects of the NCR Plus bubble in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country./PN
