Covid-19 cases in Philippines surge to 57,545

Manila, July 14 (IANS) The number of Covid-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 57,545 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 634 new infections on Tuesday.

The DOH said that the number of recoveries rose to 20,459 after 88 more patients survived the disease, Xinhua reported.

The death toll also increased to 1,603 after six more patients died, the DOH said.

"Ninety-five duplicates were removed from the total case count, of these, two duplicates previously reported as a death have been removed from the case count after final verification," the DOH added.

The government is now discouraging home-based quarantine for those who tested positive for Covid-19 to minimise the risk of transmission within households, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said.

Policemen and local government personnel will be going house to house to search for Covid-19 cases with no or mild symptoms who are under home quarantine and send them to quarantine facilities managed by the government, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said on Tuesday.