The Department of Health reported a record-high 4,063 new cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines as of July 31, bringing the total to 93,354.
A total of 4,063 confirmed cases are reported based on the total tests done by 74 out of 91 current operational labs, the DOH bulletin said.
DOH likewise announces 165 recoveries. This brings the total number of recoveries to 65,178.
Of the 4,063 additional cases reported today, 3,813 (94%) occurred in July. The top regions with cases in July were: NCR: 2,153 cases (56%), Region 7: 558 cases (15%), and Region 4A: 492 cases (13%)
Of the 40 deaths, 27 (68%) in July, 2 (5%) in June, 2 (5%) in May, 7 (18%) in April, and 2 (5%) in March. Deaths were from NCR (13 or 33%), Region 7 (12 or 30%), Region 3 (7 or 18%), Region 4A (2 or 5%), Region 6 (2 or 5%), Region 11 (2 or 5%), Region 4B (1 or 2.5%), and Region 9 (1 or 2.5%).
There were eighty-three (83) duplicates that were removed from the total case count. Of these, forty-two (42) recovered cases have been removed.
Moreover, we have updated the health status of nine (9) cases previously reported as recovered, but after final validation were deaths (8) and active (1) cases.
DOH said these numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation.
The University of the Philippines (UP) said Friday the COVID-19 cases projection in the country is 150,000 by the end of August.
Professor Ranjit Rye of the UP OCTA research team said an interview on Dobol B sa News TV the COVID-19 projection showed the “exponential growth” the experts previously discussed.
The UP research team recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte to either maintain general community quarantine (with localized lockdowns, isolation, and contact tracing) o revert back to the modified enhanced community quarantine.
Metro Manila, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Minglanilla and Consolacion towns in Cebu province, and Zamboanga City will be under GCQ until mid-August.
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Although Metro Manila’s reproduction rate (number of people an infected person could pass the virus to) lowered from 1.75 to between 1.3 and 1.4, Rye said it is still high.
“Mataas pa rin po kasi siya…[dapat] below one (it’s still high, it should be below one),” he said in the radio interview.
Professor Guido David, who is also part of the OCTA research team, said the virus’ reproduction number in Cebu decreased to 0.8 or 0.9.
He added Cebu already flattened the curve, but this should not be an excuse to disregard health protocols.