(Eagle News)–The number of coronavirus disease 2019 cases in the country topped 189,000 on Sunday, Aug. 23, after the Department of Health reported 2,378 additional cases.
According to the DOH, of the 189,601 total COVID-19 cases, 55236 were active.
Of these, 91.5 percent were mild, 6.1 percent asymptomatic, 1 percent severe, and 1.4 percent critical.
The 2,378 newly-announced cases were results from tests done by 99 out of 109 labs.
Of these, 1022 were from Metro Manila, 132 from Cavite, 128 from Laguna, 115 from Rizal, and 96 from Cebu.
Recoveries rose to 131, 367 after 16,459 additional ones were reported today as the DOH implements the time-based approach for determining the release of patients in isolation, as recommended by the World Health Organization.
The DOH had said the results of this implementation would be reported every Sunday.
The death toll rose to 2998 with the 32 reported today.
Metro Manila is on its fifth day of the general community quarantine since the government imposed a two-week modified enhanced community quarantine in the region to allow the medical community to recover from exhaustion amid the rising number of cases.
Under the GCQ, restrictions are supposed to be eased.
But some restrictions were retained under this GCQ, following calls for the same by Metro Manila mayors who had noted the immediate spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country when the region was first classified as a GCQ area in July.
These restrictions include the ban on gyms and Internet cafés, even if these were already allowed to operate under the first GCQ.
The government has also said only mass gatherings of up to ten people are allowed in GCQ areas.
Apart from Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan and Rizal are under the GCQ until Aug. 31.
