MANILA, Jul 1 (NNN-PNA) – The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH), reported 5,795 new COVID-19 infections today, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,418,337.
The death toll climbed to 24,797, after 135 more patients died from the disease.
The Philippines, with a population of more than 110 million, has tested more than 14 million people, since the outbreak in Jan, 2020.
“The risk classification nationally is already at low risk,” Alethea De Guzman of the DOH’s Epidemiology Bureau said, in an online briefing, adding that, the national case growth rate and average daily infection rate for the past two weeks have slowed.
The number of cases in Metro Manila continued to decline, while infections in the Visayas region in the central Philippines and Mindanao in the south “peaked” in Jun and showed “signs of decline over the past week,” De Guzman said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) called on the Philippine government today, to speed up the vaccination of priority groups, especially the elderly.
WHO Representative to the Philippines, Rabindra Abeyasinghe, said that, senior citizens are at the highest risk of death due to COVID-19.
He said, focusing vaccination efforts on those “at greatest risk of severe disease and death will have the biggest immediate impact on saving lives, especially amid a limited global supply of vaccines.”
The Philippines has administered more than 10 million doses of vaccines, since the nationwide rollout on Mar 1.– NNN-PNA
