THE Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday, May 15, 2021, reported 93 additional mortalities, pushing the death toll from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country past 19,000.
As of May 15, a total of 19,051 had died from Covid-19 in the Philippines. The case fatality rate swung back to 1.67 percent.
Active cases declined to 56,709, or 5.0 percent of the total count, as 8,952 new recoveries exceeded the 6,739 new Covid-19 cases.
A total of 1,138,187 individuals have contracted the virus in the Philippines. Of these, 93.3 percent, or 1,062,427, have recovered.
Meanwhile, three passengers who were on the same flight as the 58-year-old B.1.617.2 case have tested positive for Sars-CoV-2.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said 28 others were found negative.
Three of the six passengers considered as close contacts of the 37-year-old B.1.617.2 case also tested negative. The three others were being located.
The B.1.617.2 is one of three sub-lineages of the B.1.617 variant of Sars-CoV-2, which is believed to be causing the explosive rise in Covid-19 cases in India.
DOH is tracing the close contacts among the co-passengers of the two returning OFWs with this variant, after its Epidemiology Bureau director said the two patients had no close contacts. (HDT / SunStar Philippines)