MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has surpassed China in the total number of COVID-19 infections in the Western Pacific Region, the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data have shown.
According to WHO, the Philippines now has 89,374 COVID-19 cases while China has 84,292.
WHO’s data only listed 22 member states with reported COVID-19 cases from among the 37 nations it categorized as Western Pacific Region. It can be noted that all 22 countries mainly comprise what is commonly known as the Asia Pacific Region.
The WHO data also showed that the Philippines ranks second to China in terms of death count from COVID-19. It said that China has 4,634 fatalities while the Philippines has 1,983.
SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes the potentially deadly respiratory disease COVID-19, was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei province in late 2019. By March this year, the WHO declared the outbreak that started in China a pandemic as it hit the majority of nations across the world.
Meanwhile, the WHO data said Singapore ranks third on the list of highest COVID-19 cases in the Western Pacific Region with 51,809 infections.
Japan, on the other hand, ranks third in terms of COVID-19 death toll in the Western Pacific Region as it registered 1,004 fatalities.
From the website of WHO Western Pacific
The WHO data comes a day after the Department of Health (DOH) recorded the highest daily new COVID-19 cases tally for the Philippines at 3,954 as well as a record-breaking 38,075 new recoveries.
DOH later explained that the 38,075 was the result of its “mass recovery adjustment,” where it re-tagged all mild and asymptomatic cases as recovered patients as endorsed by local government units and regional epidemiological surveillance units and due to efforts of its recently adopted Oplan Recovery program.