MANILA, The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) reported 5,604 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total tally to 1,403,588.
The death toll rose to 24,456 after 84 more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic, the DOH said.
The Philippines, with a population of more than 110 million, has tested more than 13 million people for the pandemic since the local outbreak in January 2020.
Citing DOH data, the independent OCTA Research said the daily coronavirus cases in Metro Manila have decreased by 9 percent, from a daily average of 731 cases on June 14-20, to 667 cases per day over the past week.
OCTA fellow Guido David stressed the need to retain the lockdown restrictions in the capital region despite the declining trend in daily cases.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised press conference that strict quarantine rules will likely remain in July because of the presence of more transmissible variants of the COVID-19 virus.
The Philippines has imposed tight border control in order to prevent the entry of highly infectious coronavirus variants into the Southeast Asian country, including the Delta variant first reported in India.
The DOH said on Monday that it has administered over 10 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the vaccine rollout beginning March 1. It added that over 2.52 million people have been fully vaccinated so far in the country.
The Philippines has received nearly 17.5 million doses of different brands of COVID-19 vaccines so far. It aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year.
Source: China – ASEAN Business Council