MANILA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines passed the milestone of 1 million on Monday as the infections continued to surge in the country.
The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday 8,929 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,006,428.
The death toll climbed to 16,853 after 70 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.
The 1 million mark comes just over three months after the Philippines surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 cases on January 17. The infections surged in March this year, surpassing the previous peak in August 2020. The government placed Metro Manila and four adjacent provinces, home to over 28 million people, under a strict lockdown since the end of March.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised press conference, "The reason why the cases ballooned was the variants."
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the government has added more ICU beds in hospitals in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the outbreak.
The government's objective is to control the increase in the number of cases to prevent the infections from reaching 2 million, Vergeire said at an online press conference on Monday.
"We need to double our efforts. That is why we are intensifying all (our efforts to contain the transmission), starting from the local level to the national level," she said.
"We can see that cases are declining, although we can still see the challenge in our hospitals right now," Vergeire said, warning people not to be complacent as the average daily infection rate in Metro Manila "remains high."
Vergeire stressed that the battle against COVID-19 is far from over. The continuing surge in cases is a reminder that it is still absolutely critical that people continue to follow the hygiene and social distancing guidelines, she added.
The Philippine government will decide this week whether to maintain the lockdown in Metro Manila and other high-risk provinces.
The Southeast Asian country is ramping up the vaccination efforts as it continues to battle a surge of COVID-19 infections fuelled by more infectious variants.
The government aims to inoculate up to 70 million Filipinos this year to achieve herd immunity, starting with health care workers and the elderly.
China was the first to deliver the COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines. Its donation of Sinovac's vaccines arrived on Feb. 28, allowing the Philippines to start its mass vaccination on March 1. Enditem