The Philippines yesterday reported more than 1,100 new coronavirus infections, the highest number of cases reported within a day, bringing the national tally to nearly 32,000.
The death toll from Covid-19 also rose to 1,186, with nine additional deaths reported, according to the Department of Health.
The spike in reported infections comes 100 days after the government imposed a lockdown on the country’s most populous island of Luzon and in other high-risk areas in mid-March.
The department said that of the 1,150 new cases, 789 were recently confirmed, while 361 were considered “late cases,” meaning they had been confirmed previously and only now added to the tally.
The additional cases brought the country’s total to 31,825, it added.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the past 100 days of restrictions have given the country “enough time to prepare and capacitate its health system” to deal with Covid-19 cases.
“The best example that we can provide you (with) would be our testing laboratories,” she said. “We started off with just one, but now we have 64 licensed laboratories.”
The government has gradually eased lockdowns imposed in Luzon, including the capital, Manila, and other parts of the country, but authorities are still urging people to leave their homes only for essential trips.
In the central city of Cebu, where the number of reported coronavirus cases has been increasing in recent weeks, President Rodrigo Duterte lamented that people were slow to comply with the restrictions.
“When everyone else stayed at home under quarantine, in Cebu, people still roamed around on their motorcycles,” he said in a late-night televised address on Monday. “In a report to me by the military, people kept roaming around.
And every day, the crowds resemble that of a wet market.”
Duterte said he was sending Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to check on the situation in Cebu City, which serves as a gateway from the main northern island of Luzon to the Visayas.