MANILA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 112,593 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported a record high of 6,352 new cases on Tuesday.
The DOH said that the number of recoveries rose to 66,049 after 240 patients have survived the disease.
The death toll also increased to 2,115 after 11 more patients have succumbed to the viral disease, the DOH said.
Metro Manila topped the five regions or provinces with the highest number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases reported on Tuesday with 3,139, followed by Laguna province, south of Manila, 592; Cavite province, south of Manila, 550; Rizal province, east of Manila, 277; and Cebu province in the central Philippines, 261.
"We are seeing an observable increase in the reported cases which is primarily driven by clustering in different communities," the DOH said.
On Tuesday, the government reimposed stricter lockdown measures in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan due to the steady spike in COVID-19 cases in these areas. People in these areas in the main island of Luzon are urged to stay at home.
More than 27 million people are affected by the lockdown which will remain in place for two weeks.
Public transport, including commuter trains, buses and taxis, has been temporarily suspended in Metro Manila and the four provinces. Domestic flights were also cancelled.
It is hoped that reverting back to stricter lockdown measures will break the increasing trend of positive COVID-19 cases.
Ranjit Rye, a professor at the University of the Philippines, has projected the COVID-19 infections to reduce by somewhere between 50,000 to 70,000 as Metro Manila and the four provinces return to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine.
Rye has earlier projected the virus cases to reach 200,000 by the end of August under a more relaxed general community quarantine scenario.
"Imposing stricter quarantine measures will have a huge impact on the number of daily COVID-19 cases," Rye said on Monday. Enditem
