DOH monitoring 638 clusters of COVID-19 cases

by Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 20 Jul 2020

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is currently monitoring a total of 638 areas nationwide with clustering of COVID-19 cases.

According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, 513 of them were recorded within communities, 49 in hospitals, while 24 were in jails.

Meanwhile, the remaining clusters of cases were recorded in workplaces, flights, some quarantine facilities, and communities with clustering due to locally stranded individuals alone, the DOH explained.

Below is the breakdown of the 513 community clustering per region based on DOH data:

Metro Manila: 170

Central Visayas: 122

CALABARZON: 55

Eastern Visayas: 36

Central Luzon: 25

Davao Region: 20

Western Visayas: 20

Bicol Region: 13

Northern Mindanao: 12

Zamboanga Peninsula: 11

CARAGA: 8

BARMM: 7

Cagayan Valley: 5

SOCCSKSARGEN: 4

MIMAROPA: 3

Cordillera Administrative Region: 2

The government has expanded its COVID-19 testing protocols, adding in the guidelines teachers, workers in tourism, transportation, and manufacturing sectors as well as residents of areas with confirmed community transmission or clustering of COVID-19 cases.

To date, there are 67,456 COVID-19 cases nationwide, including 22,465 recoveries and 1,831 deaths.

JE