MANILA – The number of casualties in the Philippines due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continued to swell as the Department of Health recorded eight more deaths yesterday.
DOH Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said the eight casualties as of Monday brought the death toll to 33. The confirmed cases for the virus, meanwhile, have reached 396 and 18 recovered patients.
Vergeire said the public must not be surprised if the number of confirmed cases goes up in the days to come as the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and several other subnational laboratories are addressing backlogs of test results.
“Baka magulat ang ating mga kababayan kapag lumabas ang numbers per day kasi biglang tataas because now that we are reducing the backlog,” Vergeire said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
Commonly reported COVID-19 symptoms are fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. The disease is spread through small droplets from the nose or mouth when people infected with the virus cough or sneeze.
To prevent infection, authorities are urging people to practice regular hand washing, cover their mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and avoid close contact with those who show respiratory symptoms.
Around the world, over 339,000 have been infected and 14,705 have died because of the viral disease. Over 98,000 have recovered. Those with severe and critical symptoms should call the DOH at (02) 8-651-7800 local 1149-1150./PN
