The Department of Health (DOH) reported 42 Covid-19 fatalities as the number of infections in the country rose to 52,914 on Friday.
Of the number of deaths, 27 (64 percent ) occurred in July and 12 (29 percent) in June. Thirty-six (86 percent) of the deaths reported were from Cebu.
As of 4 p. m. of July 10, the DOH recorded 1,233 additional cases. Of number 848 were lights as fresh cases, 385 were detected as late cases.
Today’s fresh cases are based on the daily accomplishment reports submitted by only 70 out of 79 current operational labs.
DOH also said that 286 recoveries. This brings the total number of recoveries to 13,230.
Seventy-three duplicates were also removed from total case count.
The total cases reported may be subject to change as these numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation.
Health protocols
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the DOH emphasized that the outlook of the country’s pandemic response is highly dependent on the public’s compliance with prescribed health protocols.
Vergeire explained that the public must remain vigilant and practice the infection prevention and control measures, such as proper use of personal protective equipment , physical distancing, and proper hygiene, to help limit the spread of the virus.
With the government ramping up testing, Vergeire cautioned that the current effort to expand testing does not guarantee the public’s safety and that they should continue to observe the DOH’s health guidelines.
“Prevention is still the most effective intervention against Covid-19,” as she appealed to the public not to be lax.
Vergeire also reported that the increase in cases can be attributed to clusters in specific areas and not a general increase across the country.
Majority of the newly announced fresh cases on July 5 are concentrated in three regions: The National Capital Region (NCR) with 1,482 fresh cases, Central Visayas (Region VII) with 1,118, and Calabarzon (Region IV-A) with223.
“Tumaas po ang mga average number ng mga kaso dahil sa pagtaas ng bilang ng mga kaso sa mga binabantayan nating lugar, kaya naman po kailangan nating maging mas maingat at mag- exercise ng caution lalo na para sa mga lugar kung saan may clustering of cases,” she added.
In terms of overall cases, one of the major reasons in the increase is the ongoing verification process of case data, where challenges such as system access or extraction issues are being addressed to ensure a more accurate and timely reporting from laboratories.
Despite the increase in cases, the Philippines’ case doubling time (CDT), or the time it takes for cases to increase two-fold, is still 7.95 days according to the Health Official, this indicator, along with a positivity rate of 7.3 percent, is a clear sign that the country is still able to manage the spread of the infection.