MANILA, Aug 30 (NNN-PNA) – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 213,131, after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,637 new daily cases on Saturday.
DOH said that the number of recoveries rose to 135,101, after it reported that 655 more patients survived the disease. The death toll also rose to 3,419, after 94 more patients succumbed to the disease, DOH added.
Metro Manila topped the five regions or provinces with the highest number of daily confirmed cases reported on Saturday, with 2,030, followed by Laguna province, south of Manila, 217; Rizal province, east of Manila, 155; Cavite province, south of Manila, 142; and Batangas province, 113.
The Philippine government re-calibrated and refreshed its strategy to cut the COVID-19 transmission amid the spike of cases. This week DOH started using a new slogan, ‘When in doubt, isolate,’ in its COVID-19 response.
The message that the government wants to drill into the mind of the people is, “If you think you have been exposed or has come to close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual, or if you are waiting for the result of a swab test, or if you are experiencing symptoms and is unsure if it is COVID-19-related, then isolate yourself from others.”
Efforts are underway to strengthen the role of community leaders by implementing the coordinated operations to defeat the pandemic. The new strategy aims to eliminate the virus clusters identified areas, particularly communities with limited resources and a high number of cases or with many clustering of cases.
The health department tested over 2.35 million people so far, and 10.6 percent of those tested are positive. The DOH said, its 112 COVID-19 laboratories across the archipelago could conduct around 30,000 tests daily.– NNN-PNA
