The Philippines yesterday reported a record 6,958 additional coronavirus infections, pushing the country’s national tally to 136,638, the highest in Southeast Asia.
The death toll from Covid-19 also rose to 2,293, with 24 additional deaths reported, the Department of Health said.
Of the additional cases, 5,394 are infections confirmed in the past three days, while 1,564 were confirmed previously but only later added to the tally, the department added.
About 60% of the new cases were from the capital region of Metro Manila, which was again placed under lockdown, together with four surrounding provinces, until next week.
The lockdown was imposed after healthcare workers appealed to the government to recalibrate its response, warning that the country was losing the battle against Covid-19.
Amid calls by some to extend the new lockdown until the end of the month, health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the impact of the stricter restrictions could not be seen immediately. “It may take us three weeks before we can see the effects of this lockdown that we have now,” she said.
President Rodrigo Duterte was meeting with the government’s inter-agency task force on Covid-19 to discuss the suggestions to extend the lockdown, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said. “It entails a delicate balancing of protecting and saving people’s health with protecting and saving the economic health of the nation,”he said.
The government has warned that the local economy, which suffered its worst contraction on record in the second quarter, would deteriorate further if the lockdown were extended.