PH now 2nd in Southeast Asia’s COVID-19 count

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has the second most COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia as of Monday night with a total of 46,333 infections.

This developed after the country logged 2,099 additional cases, enough to surpass Singapore which currently has 44,983, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Indonesia continues to top the region with 64,958 cases.

However, it was the Philippines that has the most active cases with 32,845, followed by Indonesia’s 31,798 and Singapore’s 4,516.

In terms of fatalities, Indonesia is currently first with 3,241, while the Philippines has 1,303 at second, followed by Malaysia with only 121.

With 12,185 total recoveries, the Philippines is third behind Singapore (40,441) and Indonesia (29,919).

The Department of Health attributed the recent surge in new coronavirus infections in the Philippines to the increased contact among the population as a result of the relaxation of quarantine measures.

The bulk of the Philippines’ cases were recorded in Metro Manila, the country’s economic center, where movement restrictions have been eased for over a month now to restart the pandemic-hit economy.

Over 11.4 million people worldwide have already been infected by SARS-CoV-2–the new coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19–since it was first reported in Hubei, China late last year. /atm