A man sleeps in a modular tent set up for street dwellers to stop the further spread of COVID-19 at a sheltered basketball court in Manila, the Philippines on March 23, 2020. The Philippine health authorities confirmed on Sunday 73 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the total number of people sick with the highly contagious disease to 380. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
MANILA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine health authorities confirmed on Sunday 73 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the total number of people sick with the highly contagious disease to 380.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said there are now 25 COVID-19 deaths in the Philippines. Seventeen patients have recovered so far.
The Philippines' fight against the epidemic has got a much-needed boost with donations from China. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Sunday thanked Alibaba Foundation and Jack Ma Foundation anew for committing to send thousands of medical-grade, full-body protective suits and face shields to the Philippines to scale up its response to the deadly coronavirus disease.
This additional donation is on top of the donation of 500,000 face masks that the two foundations committed to send earlier, Dominguez added.
"This additional donation from the two foundations will further boost the government's sustained efforts to contain the spread of the virus in the country, which has been placed under a state of calamity by President Rodrigo Duterte following the sustained community transmission of COVID-19.
"On behalf of President Duterte and the Filipino people, we again thank Jack Ma for his generosity," Dominguez said, adding the Philippines is optimistic that with Ma's "invaluable support, not only in the Philippines but in other countries as well, we can overcome this global challenge and eventually win the battle against COVID-19."
The donation came amid calls from hospitals about the lack of protective gears for health workers. Already the local media reports that a number of doctors are getting sick and that some died from the disease.
On Saturday, China handed over to the Philippines 100,000 test kits, 10,000 sets of personal protective equipment, 100,000 surgical masks and 10,000 N95 masks to help the country fight the disease.
President Duterte has placed the entire Philippines under a state of public health emergency and imposed an enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon in a bid to keep people in their homes and prevent the rapid spread of the highly infectious virus.
Other areas of the Philippines in central and Southern Philippines have also announced their own local quarantine arrangements.
On Sunday, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration started restricting the entry of foreign nationals to the Philippines. Foreign nationals will no longer be able to receive a visa on arrival and will not be able to enter the Philippines until further notice.
The Philippine government has said that foreign nationals will be able to leave the Philippines at any time during the lockdown period.
