Coronavirus: Philippines reports record deaths; cases seen spiking as mass testing set to begin

MANILA - Philippine health officials on Sunday (April 12) reported a record number of deaths in one day from the coronavirus, two days before they begin mass testing, which is expected to lead to a spike in the number of confirmed infections.

The Health Ministry reported that it tallied 50 more deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. That brought the total number of people who had died since the outbreak reached the Philippines in January to 297.

More have died in Indonesia. The coronavirus has killed at least 327 there.

The Philippines also recorded 220 new cases, raising its total to 4,648.

Malaysia on Sunday reported 153 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing its total to 4,683, still the highest in South-east Asia. Malaysia added three more deaths from the virus to bring the total to 76.

And Thailand, meanwhile, reported 33 new coronavirus infections, for a total of 2,551 cases, as well as three more deaths, taking the nation's toll to 38.

Coronavirus-related figures in the Philippines are expected to spike this month, as public health workers begin mass testing on Tuesday.

The Philippines reported its first confirmed case of Covid-19 on Jan 30.

But it was unable to test large numbers of suspected cases, as it had at the time just 2,000 testing kits in its stockpile and only one testing laboratory.

The Health Ministry was forced to limit testing to patients who showed severe symptoms, fuelling anxiety that the coronavirus could be spreading undetected across the Philippines.

The Philippines has since received tens of thousands of testing kits from donor countries, including Singapore. A local university is also now able to mass produce testing kits.

Dozens of testing laboratories will also be coming online this month.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters on Sunday that over 33,000 patients had already been tested.

Former health secretary Manuel Dayrit said previously that the number of infections in the Philippines could reach at least 75,000.

A separate study from the University of the Philippines forecast a much higher number: up to 550,000 in metropolitan Manila, home to over 13 million, alone.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, a spokesman for a task force overseeing the government's response to the pandemic, said earlier that health officials should be testing close to 10,000 people a day by April 20, and then up to 20,000 by April 27.

He said that should give the government a clearer picture as to whether an "enhanced community quarantine" - spanning half the country's population - has been helping to "flatten the curve".

President Rodrigo Duterte last week extended a sweeping, month-long lockdown over the northern third of the Philippines till the end of April, as experts here had yet to ascertain the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The lockdown has resulted in massive job losses and a crippling economic slump.

Mr Nograles said in a news briefing on Sunday that the government has also decided to disclose to the public the personal information of patients who would test positive for Covid-19.

"This should enhance the contact-tracing efforts of the government," he said.