(Eagle News) — COVID-19 cases in the Philippines rose to 1,857,646 on Monday, Aug. 23, after the Department of Health reported record-high 18,332 additional COVID-19 cases.
The additional cases were higher than the 17,231 new cases reported on Aug. 20, which had been tagged as the highest daily case count in the Philippines.
According to DOH data, of the total cases, 130,350 were active.
Of these, 94.8 percent were mild, 2.5 percent were asymptomatic, 0.6 percent were critical, 1.2 percent were severe, and 0.92 percent were moderate.
Recoveries rose to 1,695,335 including the additional 13794 recoveries.
The COVID-19 death toll is now at 31961, with the addition of 151 deaths.
On Monday, the DOH said there was observed community transmission in Metro Manila and the Calabarzon area, although further evidence was needed to confirm this.
“So currently, we have seen and observed, especially in NCR and Region 4A, na talagang mukhang community transmission na ito. Nakita natin na wala nang link ang mga kaso sa bawa’t isa. We are seeing a clustering of cases in these two big regions kaya iyan po ay isang bagay na pinagtutuunan natin ng pansin sa ngayon,” Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also said the prolong enhanced community quarantine in Regions 7 and 10 seemed to not have led to an improvement in the number of COVID-19 cases reported in those areas.
“It is really troubling, to say the least,” Duque had said.
