MANILA — The Philippines' health department reported on Monday the largest number so far of new cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a single day at 82, raising the country's total tally to 462.
It also said that 8 more patients succumbed to the disease, bringing the total number of fatalities to 33.
The number of patients who recovered stood at 18.
All the 8 new deaths are male patients, of whom most have pre-existing health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. The youngest is 56 years old and the oldest is 89 years old.
The latest case of recovery, meanwhile, involved a 54-year-old Filipino male from Manila who recently traveled to Thailand and was exposed to a known COVID-19 case.
He was hypertensive, and first experienced symptoms on March 6. He tested positive on March 13, and was discharged on March 21.
Health officials have earlier warned that the number of cases in the country is expected to spike in the coming days as more tests are being conducted on probable patients.
Since last week, the country's main island of Luzon has been on lockdown in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease.
The novel disease was first reported in China late last year and has spread to more than 180 countries and territories, based on the latest report of the World Health Organization. The global tally of the cases is nearing 300,000, with deaths of close to 13,000.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
