MANILA, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reported 3,694 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian country, bringing the total tally to 2,772,491.
The DOH also reported 227 more deaths from the pandemic, bringing the coronavirus death toll to 42,575.
According to the DOH, the country has seen a dip in new COVID-19 cases after emerging from the third wave of infections that peaked in September. The highest ever daily tally was recorded on Sept. 11, at 26,303 cases.
Philippine Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said Thursday that lowering COVID-19 restrictions in Metro Manila will boost the pandemic-hit economy and create more jobs. Metro Manila is now under restrictions of alert level 3.
"By moving from alert level 3 to alert level 2, we can improve upon our gross domestic product by 10.3 billion pesos (about 203 million U.S. dollars) per week and reduce the number of unemployed by around 43,000 per week," Chua told a virtual forum.
Easing the restrictions allows the government to open up more business sectors, such as restaurants, recreational venues, and personal care services, which will operate with increased capacity.
Chua said the Philippine economic growth has begun to recover in the first three quarters of this year, adding that better management of risks will allow the Philippine economy to grow 4-5 percent in 2021 and 7-9 percent in 2022.
The Philippines, which has a population of around 110 million, has tested nearly 21.5 million people for coronavirus infection since the outbreak in January 2020. Enditem
