With 6,216 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday, the Philippines now has a total of 153,660 infections since the pandemic began.
This is the second highest number of additional COVID-19 cases reported in a single day, with the record-high at 6,958 on Aug. 10.
Of the total number of infections, 79,813 are active cases, with patients being treated for COVID-19 or under quarantine.
Health officials reported 16 new fatalities, bring total deaths to 2,442 from COVID-19.
At the same time, there were 1,038 new recoveries, bringing to 71,405 the number of patients who have recovered from the disease.
The Philippines has been logging record-high numbers in terms of new COVID-19 cases since late July, following the easing of quarantine measures and the gradual reopening of the economy.
There has been no apparent letup in the rise even while Metro Manila and surrounding provinces reverted to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine on August 4, with the restrictions to remain in effect until Aug. 18.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Friday said the “bulk of cases are in the productive age group of 20 to 59 years old.”
This was the group that went out to work, she said.
“The drivers of infection – when we look at the data–are those who go out of their homes. When they return, they are the ones who bring the infection to their homes,” Vergeire said.
After Metro Manila and nearby provinces reverted to the relatively stricter modified enhanced community quarantine, the government said it would recalibrate its COVID-19 response with the help of the medical sector.