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The number of Filipinos infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country has now breached the 100,000 mark, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Sunday.

Based on its latest Case Bulletin, the DOH recorded 5,032 new cases higher than the previous 4,963 new cases last Saturday.

“A total of 5,032 confirmed cases are reported based on the total tests done by 70 out of 94 current operational labs,” it said.

This brought the total number of COVID-19 cases to 103,185 with 35,569 active cases, most having mild symptoms.

“There were 79 duplicates that were removed from the total case count,” DOH said.

“Of these, eight recovered cases have been removed. Moreover, one case that was previously reported to have recovered has been validated to have died and already included in the count of new deaths,” it added.

DOH said the National Capital Region (NCR) has the highest record of 2,737 cases, followed by Cavite with 463, Cebu with 449, Laguna with 326, and Rizal with 201.

DOH also announced 301 recoveries bringing the total to 65,557 recoveries.

As to the fatalities, 20 deaths were recorded bringing the total to 2,059.

“Of the 20 deaths, 14 or 70 percent in July, three or 15 percent in June and also three in May,” it added.

Last month, the University of the Philippines (UP) OCTA Research Team predicted that the country may reach more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of August.

Because of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, more than 80 medical organizations and societies made a unified call for the national government to reimpose enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila for at least two weeks.

According to the medical societies, the two-week "timeout" is already necessary as the country is already "waging a losing battle against COVID-19."

DOH agreed with the healthcare sector that the temporary timeout will buy the needed time to refine and revisit strategies to meet the evolving nature of the global pandemic.

President Rodrigo Duterte is set to meet on Sunday some of his Cabinet officials to discuss the recommendation of health experts to reimpose ECQ in the National Capital Region. Ella Dionisio/DMS