DOH reports 1,245 clustering of COVID-19 cases in PH

by Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 17 Aug 2020

MANILA, Philippines — There are currently 1,245 clusters of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection nationwide, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Monday.

The majority of the clusters were recorded within communities with 1,054 or 84.7%. Hospitals/health facilities account for 5.5% (68), jails/prisons with 2.4% (30) while the other 7.5% (93) was recorded in other setting such as in workplaces.

A cluster occurs when there is a concentration of infections in the same area at the same time.

The DOH earlier said it has recently observed an increase in the clustering of COVID-19 cases.

Metro Manila has the highest number of clustering with 411, followed by Calabarzon (216), Central Visayas (176), and Central Luzon (68).

Of Metro Manila’s total number of clusters, 333 were recorded in communities, 34 in hospitals/health facilities, 12 in jails/prisons, and 32 in other settings.

The DOH on Sunday reported 3,420 new COVID-19 cases and a record-high single-day increase of 40,397 recoveries, pushing their respective totals to 161,253 and 112,586.

Meanwhile, 2,665 people have so far died of the respiratory disease nationwide, nearly seven months since it was first reported in the country.

More than half or 90,093 of the total cases came from Metro Manila which remains to be the epicenter of the outbreak in the country.

The capital region, along with the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, has been reverted to the more restrictive modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from the general community quarantine (GCQ) from August 4 to August 18 after a timeout appeal from the medical community.