Philippines logs 7,342 new COVID-19 cases

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Wednesday 7,342 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,619,824.

The death toll climbed to 28,231 after 90 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.

The DOH said six testing laboratories failed to submit data.

The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested nearly 16 million people since the outbreak in January 2020. It has detected 216 Delta variant cases so far, 47 of which are from Metro Manila.

Metro Manila, home to over 13 million people, is at high risk again due to the alarming increase in the daily number of Delta cases for the past few days.

The government will reimpose a hard lockdown in the capital from Aug. 6 to 20 to curb the local transmission of the highly contagious Delta variant.

"We are seeing a significant increase in our admission of COVID-19 patients compared to two weeks ago, and (more) patients are waiting to be admitted," Philippine General Hospital spokesperson Jonas del Rosario said in a television interview.

Benjamin Campomanes, chief medical officer and vice president of St. Luke's Medical Center, said many COVID-19 patients admitted to the private hospital have comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. (ANI/Xinhua)

( With inputs from ANI )

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