Passengers are seen wearing face masks on a bus in Manila, the Philippines, on Aug. 29, 2020. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 213,131 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,637 new daily cases on Saturday. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
MANILA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 213,131 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,637 new daily cases on Saturday.
The DOH said that the number of recoveries rose to 135,101 after it reported 655 more patients have survived the disease.
The death toll also rose to 3,419 after 94 more patients have succumbed to the viral disease, the DOH added.
Metro Manila topped the five regions or provinces with the highest number of daily confirmed cases reported on Saturday with 2,030, followed by Laguna province, south of Manila, 217; Rizal province, east of Manila, 155; Cavite province, south of Manila, 142; and Batangas province, south of Manila, 113.
The Philippine government has recalibrated and refreshed its strategy to cut the COVID-19 transmission amid the spike of cases. This week the DOH started using a new slogan, 'When in doubt, isolate,' in its coronavirus response.
The message that the government wants to drill into the mind of the people is "If you think you have been exposed or has come to close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual, or if you are waiting for the result of a swab test, or if you are experiencing symptoms and is unsure if it is COVID-19-related, then isolate yourself from others."
Efforts are underway to strengthen the role of community leaders by implementing the coordinated operations to defeat the pandemic. The new strategy aims to eliminate the virus clusters identified areas, particularly communities with limited resources and a high number of cases or with many clustering of cases.
The health department has tested over 2.35 million people so far, and 10.6 percent of those tested are positive. The DOH said its 112 COVID-19 laboratories across the archipelago could conduct around 30,000 tests daily. Enditem
