MANILA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday that 5,404 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections, the highest daily tally in seven months, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 626,893.
Monday's tally is the fourth highest daily rise on record in the Southeast Asian country since the epidemic started in the country last year.
The death toll climbed to 12,837 after eight more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. It added that 71 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 560,577.
The Philippines, which has an about 110-million population, has tested over 8.7 million people since the disease emerged in January last year.
"We are alarmed naturally because of the significant increases (in the number of cases) that started on March 4," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a television interview on Monday.
Duque said that "the surge is a result of a combination of factors," which include quarantine fatigue, breach of minimum health protocols, increased mobility, easing up of restrictions, and to some extent, the emergence of the fast-spreading COVID-19 variants.
Complicating the Philippines' fight against COVID-19 is the emergence of the highly infectious coronavirus variants found in Britain, South Africa, and Brazil. Hundreds of variant cases have been detected in the country.
"We need to emphasize the minimum public health standards plus (proper) ventilation, contact-tracing, testing, and aggressive isolation and treatment," he added.
Duque reminded the people to comply with the quarantine rules such as wearing masks, face shields, and social distancing. "There are no shortcuts here. We really need to follow (the health protocols)," he added.
Metro Manila, home to about 13 million people, started imposing strict quarantine measures again on Monday to contain a recent surge of coronavirus infections.
The measures include localized lockdowns in communities with clusters of infections. People are barred from leaving home from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., effective March 15 through March 31. Only essential workers are allowed outside during the curfew hours.
The government deployed more police officers to implement the new measures and ensure that people follow the rules.
"Anything is possible if the measures are not implemented aggressively," Duque said, reacting to projections that cases will continue to soar in the coming days. "That is why it is incumbent upon our local government units to be very aggressive, to intensify all of our prevention, early detection, and isolation treatment protocols," Duque said. Enditem