The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday announced the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 26,781 after 249 fresh cases and 115 late cases were reported.
The DOH also registered anew a record-high in the number of COVID-19 recoveries in the country at 301, increasing the recovery count to 6,552. The death toll slightly rose to 1,103 with the passing of five more patients.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the new cases show that there is still local transmission of the virus, but issued a clarification on the said term.
“Ang local transmission na tinutukoy natin na sanhi ng bagong kaso ay hindi generalized community transmission sa buong bansa. Sa halip, concentrated sa ibang lugar gaya ng NCR at Central Visayas lalo na sa Cebu (The local transmission we are referring to as cause of new cases is not a generalized community transmission in the country. Instead, it is concentrated in various areas like NCR and Central Visayas especially Cebu),” Vergeire explained.
Vergeire also pointed out that the capacity of the country’s healthcare system is enough based on the indicators used by the agency such as case doubling time and critical care utilization rate.