The Philippines on Thursday crossed a grim milestone of 900,000 cumulative COVID-19 cases after it recorded 11,429 new infections, as authorities hope that strict quarantines for 24 million people in the capital region will tame a resurgent virus.
The Southeast Asian nation of over 112 million people now has a cumulative total of 904, 285 COVID-19 cases since the first confirmed case in January 2020, the Department of Health said. There are currently 183,527 active COVID-19 cases.
There were 148 new deaths and 856 new recoveries, bringing the totals to15,594 and 705,164, respectively.
New cases have not dipped below 8,000 per day in the past weeks. A record 15,310 infections were confirmed on April 2.
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The surge -- attributed by government officials to new virus variants and vaccine complacency-- has prompted the revival of lockdown measures in the Greater Manila Area, hurting efforts to revive the economy dragged down by the pandemic.
For two weeks, 24 million people in Metro Manila and the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal were placed under the strictest quarantine, ECQ. It was dialed down by one notch to MECQ this week, scheduled to run until April 30.
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