Philippines’ COVID-19 cases climb past 245,000 with over 3,000 new infections

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 9) — COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 245,143 on Wednesday, after the Department of Health (DOH) detected over 3,000 more infections.

The figures released by the DOH showed another 3,176 people have contracted the virus, of which 41 percent or 1,327 are from Metro Manila.

Other top reporting areas in terms of new infections include Batangas with 260, Laguna with 193, Rizal with 176, and Negros Occidental with 155, the latest case bulletin detailed.

Meanwhile, recoveries are up by 376, raising the total count to 185,543, the DOH said.

The country’s COVID-19 deaths also reached 3,986, with 70 more recorded by the department. Forty-nine of these new fatalities occurred in September, while 10 in August, and 11 in April to July.

According to the DOH, there are currently 55,614 active cases or currently ill patients nationwide.

It added that it removed 20 duplicates from the national tally as part of its cleaning process, and that two cases previously reported as recoveries turned out to be deaths after final validation.

The department has forewarned the public to expect spikes in the daily reported cases of COVID-19 due to reporting delays.

Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said late submissions from laboratories will come in within the week as more testing facilities comply with DOH's requirement to submit the patient's complete address and personal numbers for easier contact tracing.

READ: DOH: COVID-19 case tallies to see 'irregular' spike as more laboratories submit data

In a related devlopment, cases among Filipinos abroad went up to 10,151, with the Department of Foreign Affairs listing 15 new infections.

It also said 49 more overseas Filipinos have been cleared of the virus, bringing recoveries to 6,382. No new deaths have been logged, with the death count remaining at 763.

To date, COVID-19 has killed more than 898,000 people out of over 27.5 million infected worldwide, based on the Johns Hopkins University data,