(UPDATED) The number of new coronavirus infections continued to fluctuate while mortalities further slowed down as the country gradually opened up and relaxed quarantine restrictions on Monday, June 1.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported 119 fresh cases, a spike of more than 600 percent from the previous day’s 16 fresh cases, and 433 late cases, which are almost half of the 846 cases on May 31.
Fresh cases refer to those positive test results that were released in the last three days while late cases pertain to those that were released at least four days ago.
The new cases as of 4 p.m. on Monday reached 552, which brought the total number of infections in the Philippines to 18,638.
The DOH reported only three mortalities, the lowest in around two months. This raised the death toll to 960.
The agency also said 70 more patients have recovered, bringing the number of recoveries to 3,979.
Metro Manila, three other regions, one province and two Mindanao cities shifted to general community quarantine (GCQ), allowing public transport systems to resume operations at limited capacity and several businesses to reopen while complying with social distancing and health protocols.
The rest of the country are under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) in preparation for the new normal.
Under GCQ aside from Metro Manila are Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Central Visayas, Pangasinan, Davao City and Zamboanga City.
Among overseas Filipinos, 5,218 have been found positive for the novel coronavirus, or Sars-CoV-2, which causes the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recorded 34 new cases, three fatalities and 16 recoveries on Monday.
This brought the death toll among overseas Filipinos to 342 as of June 1, 2020. Recoveries climbed to 2,167.
Of the total number of cases, DFA said 2,709 were undergoing treatment as of Monday,
Globally, nearly six million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus. As of May 31, 367,166 had died from the disease. (Marites Villamor-Ilano/HDT/SunStar Philippines)