PH's COVID-19 cases breach 431,000

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 30) — The Philippines' coronavirus tally rose past 431,000 on Monday, ahead of the national government's announcement on new quarantine classifications for December.

The Department of Health reported 1,773 new cases, raising the nationwide count to 431,630. Of this total, 24,580 or 5.7 percent are currently ill patients, the latest data showed.

The highest daily rise in infections was seen in the province of Rizal with 104. Cavite follows with 99, Negros Occidental with 88, Davao City with 79, and Laguna with 72.

Another 44 patients recovered, raising the number of COVID-19 survivors to 398,658. However, 19 more deaths were also logged, pushing the death toll to 8,392.

The DOH said 11 testing laboratories failed to submit their reports on time and were not yet included in the updated tally.

It added that after final validation, seven duplicates were removed from the total case count, while six cases previously reported as recoveries were reclassified as deaths.

In its latest report, a research group monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country flagged five areas recording increased viral transmission over the past week. These are Makati City, Lucena in Quezon, Batangas City, Davao City, and Pagadian in Zamboanga del Sur.

The group urged authorities to enforce aggressive localized lockdowns with stricter border controls in these areas to prevent higher hospital burden in the coming weeks.

READ: Experts raise alarm on 5 areas with high COVID-19 cases, hospital occupancy

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to announce Monday night the new quarantine classifications to be implemented nationwide until yearend. Metro Manila mayors have formally recommended extending the general community quarantine over the country's capital region, especially as more movement is expected among the public during the holiday season.

Health officials and experts have appealed to the public to refrain from joining or organizing social gatherings this Christmas, noting that evidence showed "social mixing" among households led to the second wave of infections in Europe and North America.

Among Filipinos abroad, cases reached 11,692 after 16 more people caught the virus, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The death toll now stands at 847 with two new deaths, while recoveries stayed at 7,497.

The pandemic killed over 1.4 million people worldwide out of more than 62.7 million infected. Meanwhile, global recoveries were at around 40.1 million, based on data from the Johns Hopkins University.