MANILA, Philippines — The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines hit 1,171,403 on Friday after the Department of Health reported 6,258 new infections.
- Active cases: 55,531 or 4.7% of the total
- New recoveries: 2,586, bringing total to 1,096,109
- New fatalities: 141, pushing death toll to 19,673
What’s new today?
- Mayors of coronavirus epicenter Metro Manila decided to allow religious gatherings up to 30% of venue capacity, easing restrictions that the national government previously capped at 10%.
- Another stimulus measure worth P405.6 billion dubbed Bayanihan to Arise as One or Bayanihan 3 cleared the House appropriations, paving the way for it to be tackled and voted upon by the whole chamber.
- The government’s pandemic task force placed athletes bound for the Tokyo Olympics, liquified petroleum gas dealers, retailers and attendants in the priority line for COVID-19 vaccination.
- A group within the task force also recommended to include frontline employees of business processing outsourcing industry and the frontline employees of Comelec in the A4 priority list.
- Only half of Filipinos are confident in the government’s evaluation of coronavirus vaccines, according to a new survey by private pollster Social Weather Stations, which also revealed that only 32% were willing to get inoculated.
- As of May 18, 786,528 Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, still far from the government’s target of inoculating 58 million to achieve herd immunity. Meanwhile, 2.5 million have received their first dose.
Reporting by Albert Rovic Tan, AdChoiceTV News
AdChoiceTV News 