Two days before July ends, COVID-19 cases in PH hit 85K mark

MANILA, Philippines — Two days before July ends, the Philippines’ total number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases breached the 85,000 mark, according to the Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday, July 29. 2020.

The latest data from the DOH showed that there are now 85,486 COVID-19 cases in the country after 1,874 new infections were recorded.

Of the total number of infections, 56,528 are considered active cases.

Metro Manila topped the list of areas with new COVID-19 cases with 728. The second on the list is Cebu with 325 cases, Laguna with 130 cases, Iloilo with 67 cases, and Rizal with 53 cases.

There were also 388 new recoveries, which brought the total of patients of those who recovered to 26,996.

However, the country’s COVID-19 death toll also shot up to 1,962 as 16 new fatalities were logged.

The DOH noted that there were 61 duplicates, including seven recovered cases, that were subtracted from the total case count.

It also updated the outcome of three cases, with one case that was previously recorded as a fatality but was later identified as a recovery. Two cases, meanwhile, were earlier reported as recoveries but were later verified as death cases.

“These are already included in the count of new deaths and recoveries,” the DOH said about the validated cases.

A study released by the University of the Philippines (UP) OCTA Research previously predicted that the COVID-19 cases in the Philippines could reach 85,000 by the end of July.

Malacañang later conceded that this time, the country would not be able to defeat the prediction of the UP forecast.