Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 2) — Twenty-four more patients have died from the coronavirus disease, raising the nationwide death toll to 603, the Department of Health said on Saturday.
READ: Total infected health workers now 1,694
The department in its 4 p.m. bulletin also reported 156 new cases. The total number of coronavirus infections in the country is now at 8,928.
READ: 34 more Filipinos abroad get COVID-19
Meanwhile, 40 more people survived the viral illness, bringing the total recoveries to 1,124.
Majority of the patients have mild symptoms, which usually take around 13 days to treat. More severe cases take up to more than a month to get cleared.
The DOH earlier explained that its reports, including the number of new infections, are not the real-time data since cases have to be validated before they are made public.
Authorities have attributed the rise in cases to expanded coronavirus testing. The country now has a daily testing capacity of up to 6,420 per day, stressing that this is bound to increase as the government procures and receives more test kits.
To contain the spread of the virus, the entire country is placed under general community quarantine. Areas considered as high-risk, such as Metro Manila, are under a stricter enhanced community quarantine, where stay-at-home orders, and suspension of most work and mass transport are in place.
Worldwide, COVID-19 has infected more than 3.3 million and killed 238,000 since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
