The June 5 report of the Department of Health (DOH) has revealed the rise of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to a total of 20,626.

This comes after a total of 244 total new cases were reported today—168 of them being “fresh cases” or with test results released to the patient within three days, while 76 are “late cases” or had test results released to the patient for over four days already.

The country’s COVID-19 death toll is also getting closer to a thousand, as three more fatalities were recorded today, bringing the total to 987.

Meanwhile, the recovery count has also gone up to 4,330 as 82 new patients were reported to have successfully recovered from the virus.

The 20,000-mark for confirmed COVID-19 cases was breached yesterday, Jun. 4, with 634 new cases recorded. 313 of these were “fresh” while 321 were “late,” bringing yesterday’s confirmed case count to 20,382.

With the “fresh” and “late” case reporting in place, the recorded cases of COVID-19 in the country have seen a significant rise in the past few days. Despite this, DOH fends off worry by stating that the spike in cases is not equivalent to the COVID-19 outbreak getting worse in the country.

They also said that the government has increased testing capacity recently, which could be attributed to the rise in recorded cases. A bill mandating baseline testing for “vulnerable” sectors has also passed the final reading in the House of Representatives, and among these sectors include patients and medical workers who display symptoms of COVID-19 or are asymptomatic but have histories of travel or contact with COVID-19 patients.

Other non-health frontliners such as workers in temporary treatment, quarantine facilities and control points and those in charge of providing relief and amelioration to communities are also covered by the bill. People with pre-existing health conditions as well as those who are immunocompromised but have to return to work are also included in the baseline testing program.

Header photo by Consuelo Marquez for Inquirer.net

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