FOR 13 consecutive days, the Department of Health (DOH) reported less than 2,000 coronavirus infections a day.
The 1,968 new infections reported on Sunday, November 22, 2020, however, were the highest in the past 13 days from November 10 to 22.
These brought the total case count in the country to 418,818.
The DOH case bulletin on Sunday also reported 10,957 recoveries under the agency’s time-based recovery scheme, which declares as recovery a mild or asymptomatic case with no symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) for at least 14 days.
Sunday’s “mass recovery” was lower by about 3.0 percent than the 11,290 recoveries on November 15.
These new recoveries reduced the active cases to 24,209, or 5.8 percent of the total.
The agency also reported 43 additional mortalities, raising the death toll from Covid-19 to 8,123.
The highest number of new cases on Sunday came from Cavite (107), Quezon City (97), Davao City (86), Laguna (84) and Quezon provinces (77).
Globally, the Philippines remained in the 26th spot among countries with the highest number of infections as of November 22, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
More than 58.1 million people worldwide have contracted Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Over 1.38 million had died, including 255,899 in the United States.
Coronavirus infections in the Philippines have been declining since late October, averaging 1,568 a day in the last seven days from November 16 to 22 compared to 1,915 a day on October 19 to 25, 1,869 a day for October 26 to November 1, 1,897 for November 2 to 8, and 1,634 for November 9 to 15.
DOH officials earlier said, however, that the low numbers in the first two weeks of November may be attributed to fewer tests conducted due to the temporary closure of some diagnostics laboratories in typhoon-hit areas in Luzon and Eastern Visayas.
Bicol, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Eastern Visayas were pummeled by powerful Typhoon Rolly (Goni), which made landfall over Catanduanes as a super typhoon on November 1.
It was followed by Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) on November 11, which caused devastating floods in Camarines provinces, Quezon and Rizal provinces, Marikina City, and Cagayan and Isabela provinces.
As of November 20, the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to post the highest number of cases in the Philippines, with 8,601 active cases and 357 new cases.
It was followed by Calabarzon (6,370 active cases and 331 new cases) and Central Luzon (2,959 active cases and 159 new cases).
Davao Region came in fourth with 2,459 active cases and 127 new cases. Davao City was recently reverted to general community quarantine until end-November because of rising cases.
Central Visayas, including former hotspot Cebu City, had the seventh highest number of active cases at 1,207. There were 83 new cases, the sixth highest on November 20.
Nationwide, there are 1,440 patients in critical condition and 764 who are severely ill among the active cases as of November 20. (Marites Villamor-Ilano/SunStar Philippines)