Nearly 20,000 new COVID-19 survivors bring PH recovery tally past 252,000

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 27) -- The Department of Health recorded on Sunday 19,630 more patients who have gotten well from COVID-19, as the national recovery count surged to 252,510.

The department said 18,892 of the new recoveries are time-based, where patients were cleared of the infection based on its Oplan Recovery program's criteria. These include spending a certain amount of time in quarantine and the loss of symptoms. The remaining 738 are from routine reports, the DOH said.

Sunday's bulletin also showed that 2,995 more people have contracted the virus, raising the total case tally to 304,226.

The top five areas in the country which registered the highest rise in cases include Metro Manila with 1,065 more infected residents, followed by Cavite with 297, Bulacan with 180, Batangas with 157, and Laguna with 143.

Meanwhile, the death toll further rose to 5,344, after 60 more died of the illness. Thirty-seven of the newly confirmed fatalities occurred in September, while the other 23 transpired in April to August.

The latest figures, especially the jump in the recovery tally, pulled the number of active cases in the country down to 46,372. This means 15 percent of the nationwide case tally are currently ill.

In its report, the DOH also noted that it removed 25 duplicates from the total count as part of its constant cleaning process. It added that 10 cases previously reported as recoveries were retagged as deaths after final validation.

Abroad, five more Filipinos contracted the virus while another succumbed to the disease, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. To date, the DFA has confirmed 10,438 cases among overseas Filipinos in 78 countries, including 6,654 who have already recovered and 791 who have died from the illness.

Across the globe, 994,000 people out of the 32.8 million infected have lost their lives, data from the US-based Johns Hopkins University showed.