Philippines logs 6,784 new COVID-19 cases, total tally rises to 1,131,467

MANILA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Friday 6,784 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,131,467.

The death toll climbed to 18,958 after 137 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.

The Philippines, with a population about 110 million, has tested over 11.6 million people since the outbreak in January 2020.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stressed the need to expand the coronavirus testing to detect and isolate the infected.

"There is a need for local government units to do house-to-house to test individuals with symptoms or close contacts to ramp up the detection of individuals and immediately isolating them," she said in an online briefing.

Vergeire said the government conducts an average of around 50,000 tests daily nationwide.

"This is not enough yet because we need to lower further the positivity rate by increasing the number of those being tested. So, this is what we are doing now, expand our capacity for testing," she added.

Vergeire said that the DOH wants the local government units to scale up the testing to identify and isolate COVID-19 patients and prevent infecting others.

Starting Saturday, the Philippines will ease some lockdown restrictions in Metro Manila and its adjacent areas to reopen the economy gradually to help the people recover their jobs.