82 new COVID-19 cases reported, total now 462: DOH

March 23, 2020

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread in the country as 82 new cases have been confirmed on Monday, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

According to its latest COVID-19 Case Bulletin, as of 4 pm, the total number of cases in the country is now at 462.

DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire has already said over the weekend that the public should expect more confirmed cases in the coming days as they are able to conduct more testing and reduce their sample backlogs.

Vergeire, however, stressed on Monday that having an "artificial" increase does not mean that all "newly confirmed" cases are just from their backlogs.

"Just because we said this might just be an 'artificial' rise doesn't mean cases are not really increasing. It is increasing but it comes with our (backlogs) as we slowly attain a stable laboratory testing capacity," said Vergeire in press briefing on Monday.

Meanwhile, the DOH said there was also one new recovery among previously reported COVID-19 patients.

"This brings the total number of recoveries to 18," said the DOH.

The 54-year-old male tested positive for COVID-19 on March 13 and was discharged on March 21. DMS