THE death toll from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the Philippines exceeded 10,000 on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, almost a year after the first mortality was confirmed in the country.

In its case bulletin issued at 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 64 additional mortalities, raising the death toll to 10.042.

The agency also confirmed 1,862 additional cases of coronavirus infection, bringing the total case count in the country to 505,939. Of this number, 28,904 were active cases.

Zamboanga City, with 206 cases confirmed Wednesday, had the highest number of new infections followed by Davao City with 109, Kalinga with 102, Quezon City with 77 and Benguet with 74.

The number of people who have recovered from infection went up to 466,993, with 765 additional recoveries reported on Wednesday.

Testing normalized, with 26,842 tests conducted on January 19. Of this, 1,641 or 6.1 percent yielded positive results.

The DOH did not indicate whether the eight other passengers of Emirates EK332 and the five close contacts of the first confirmed B.1.1.7 variant case in the country have been included in the case count.

The agency stressed that compliance to minimum public health standards remain the most effective way to prevent transmission of Sars-CoV-2, including its B.1.1.7 variant.

These are wearing of face masks and face shields, frequent hand washing and physical distancing.

The first recorded Covid-19 mortality in the Philippines was a visiting Chinese man, whose demise was announced on February 1, 2020. He was also the first mortality outside China, where Sars-CoV-2 was first detected. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)