Cubicles are seen in the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) as it is converted into a COVID-19 quarantine facility in Pasay City, the Philippines, April 7, 2020. The total number of COVID-19 infections in the Philippines has climbed to 3,764, as 104 new cases were reported on Tuesday by the country's Department of Health (DOH). (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
MANILA, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 infections in the Philippines has climbed to 3,764, as 104 new cases were reported on Tuesday by the country's Department of Health (DOH).
The highly infectious disease has claimed 14 more lives in the Philippines, bringing the death toll to 177, while the total number of recoveries stand at 84 after 11 more people have recovered from the disease.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said at a virtual media briefing that "more or less 80 percent of the total COVID-19 cases" are recorded in the main Luzon Island.
Outside Luzon, the areas with the highest number of COVID-19 cases are Davao Region with 79 and Central Visayas with 39. Most of the COVID-19 patients in those regions contracted the disease from Metro Manila.
The Philippine government has announced to extend the enhanced community quarantine period on main island of Luzon until April 30 as the country continues to grapple with a sharp rise of reported COVID-19 cases and incidences of local transmission.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the spokesman for the inter-agency task force on COVID-19, said in a virtual media briefing on Tuesday that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the recommendation to extend the Luzon-wide lockdown.
Nograles said lengthening the lockdown period is needed to measure or study the full impact of enhanced community quarantine in stopping the transmission.
"It is still too early to tell if the situation has peaked or slowed down. The medical experts are telling us to give them at least mid-April" to really study the effects of the enhanced community quarantine, Nograles added.
On March 16, the entire island of Luzon, home to over half of the country's population of over 106 million and the generator of over 70 percent of the gross domestic product, was put under the enhanced community quarantine. The lockdown was scheduled to end on April 12.
