CLOSE to 4,000 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases have been reported in the last 24 hours and 100 patients more have succumbed to the disease, said the Department of Health (DOH) Saturday, September 19.
The DOH said in its 4 p.m. Saturday bulletin that 3,962 additional cases have been recorded in the country, bringing the total count to 283,460.
Majority of the new cases came from the National Capital Region (NCR) with 1,440.
Also seeing high number of cases are Bulacan (354), Cavite (287), Laguna (222), and Batangas (213).
The 100 deaths reported Saturday, meanwhile, brought the total number of mortalities in the country to 4,930.
The DOH said majority of the new deaths were recorded in the NCR with 52.
Other deaths were reported in Calabarzon (14) and Western Visayas (10).
As to the number of people who have recovered from Covid-19, the DOH said 1,128 new recoveries were recorded. This brought the total number of survivors to 209,885.
With the Covid-19 cases still rising in the country, the DOH said there is no room for the public to become complacent.
In a statement, the health department said the public must continue to be vigilant regardless of the stage of the Covid-19 pandemic the country is already in.
"While we have seen improvements in our numbers, the battle is not over," it said. "We do want the public to be complacent and to think that everything is already ok."
This means that the government must remain focused in battling Covid-19, said the DOH.
"As what the DOH has always said, we remain committed to improving our response and mitigation strategies as we learn more about the virus," it said.
Similarly, the health department advised the public to continue to adhere to the minimum health standards.
"The only thing certain is that we will be protected once we follow the minimum health standards," said the DOH.
Earlier, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said that "the worst is over" already for the country as far as the Covid-19 pandemic is concerned.
Roque issued the statement in response to a recent Social Weather Stations urvey showing that about 57 percent of Filipinos believe that the worst has yet to come in the prevailing health crisis. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)