COVID-19 infections near 39,000 as death toll increases to 1,274

THE Department of Health (DoH) reported 294 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, bringing the total to 38,805.

The death toll rose to 1,274 after four more patients died, while recoveries increased by 235 to 10,673, it said in a bulletin.

Of the fresh cases, 10 were from the capital region, 17 were returning overseas Filipinos and the rest were from outside the metro.

Of the late cases, 50 were from capital region, 164 were returning Filipino workers and the rest came from outside the region.

Of the new cases, 52 were reported in the past three days, while 242 were reported late, DoH said.

The fresh cases came from the reports of 58 of 72 laboratories, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire told an online news briefing.

She traced the decrease in new cases to the adjustment in data collection from 24 to 19 hours.

“This will give the Epidemiology bureau more time for a more in-depth analysis of data that we release,” Ms. Vergeire said in Filipino “This is temporary and we seek to give more timely data in the coming days.

The coronavirus has sickened 10.8 million and killed about 519,000 people worldwide, according to the Worldometers website, citing various sources including data from the World Health Organization.

More than six million people have recovered from the illness, it said.

Kim Carmela D. Co, a professor from the University of the Philippines-College of Public Health, said the delay in results stalls government response to control the pandemic.

The government should boost testing capacity and improve data collection at all levels, she told the same briefing. —