The Department of Health has confirmed 538 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease or COVID-19 in the country bringing the total of cases to 2,084.
This surge in the number of cases has placed the country past the 2000-mark.
Ten people have died because of the virus, increasing the death toll to 88. The total number of recoveries, on the other hand, climbed to 49.
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The DOH said that the Food and Drug Administration has given the go signal for the usage of rapid test kits, which would also help the department in detecting COVID-19 cases.
“Rapid test kits detect the antibodies produced in a person’s body to fight COVID-19,” Health Spokesperson Ma. Rosario Vergeire said in a media briefing.
The DOH said that they have distributed test kits that can conduct 40,000 tests in five laboratories. 15,337 test have been conducted, 11,129 have tested negative for COVID-19.
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The DOH said that they can still process 85,000 tests in the coming days.
“Ang pagtaas ng kaso ng COVID-19 ay dahil sa mga sub laboratories na operational na at nakagawa na ng COVID-19 tests,” Vergeire said.
The DOH said that healthcare workers will also be tested for the virus.
