NEW cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) soared beyond 4,000 on Friday, March 12, 2021, reaching a new high since mid-September 2020 and causing the cumulative case count to surge past 610,000.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported 4,578 new cases in its March 12 case bulletin, the highest for the period September 15, 2020 to March 12, 2021. DOH recorded 4,699 new cases on September 14, 2020.
The new cases brought the total case count to 611,618. Of this, there were 52,012 active cases, comprising 8.5 percent of the total.
There were 87 additional mortalities, the highest in more than two weeks. These raised the death toll to 12,694. The case fatality rate was steady at 2.08 percent.
There were also 272 new recoveries, which brought the total to 546,912.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire admitted that the presence of the B.1.1.7 (UK) and B.1.351 (South Africa) variants contributed to the surge in cases, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR).
"We can see that the variant is a real driver. The areas with large increase in cases have one or two variants detected. It helps in the increasing number of cases," said Vergeire.
As of Friday, both variants were detected in seven cities in the NCR. Four other cities also have confirmed B.1.1.7 variant cases.
"We have 7 cities in the NCR, where both UK and South African variants were identified," said Vergeire.
The cities have not been identified.
Vergeire stressed, however, that the public's failure to comply with the minimum public health standards is still one of the main reasons for the surge.
She also cited the growing number of patients doing home quarantine, which can lead to transmission of the virus within the family. (HDT / SunStar Philippines)