#ncr plus bubble

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday recorded 6,128 additional cases of COVID-19 pushing the total number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines to 747,288.

This is the lowest number of infections recorded since March 23 when DOH logged 5,867 new infections. Six laboratories were unable to submit data to the agency’s COVID-19 Data Repository System.

In a statement, DOH said the number of daily case is low due to a "number of laboratory line list" that was not registered to its data system

The number active cases in the country soared to 130,245. This is the highest number of active cases recorded and the first time that the active cases breached the 130,000-mark since the pandemic started.

DOH also said the recoveries in the country now stands at 603,746, after 491 patients recovered from the virus.

In addition, the agency logged 106 new fatalities, bringing the total number to 13,297 or 1.78 percent of the case count.

The Philippine Ports Authority on Friday asked the public to postpone non-essential travels during the imposition of NCR Plus Bubble.

“Kami po ay nananawagan at nakikiusap po sa ating mga kababayan na magbibiyahe po at dadaan sa ating mga pantalan na kung di naman po essential at hindi po ganun ka importante ang ating paglalakbay ay ipagpaliban na muna po natin ito at hintayin po natin ang abiso ng pamahalaan kung kailanga luluwag muli ang pagbibiyahe,” Philippine Ports Authority General Manager Atty. Jay Santiago appealed to public during an interview with ABS-CBN News.

Under the NCR Plus Bubble, non-essential travel outside NCR, and its adjacent provinces Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, and Bulacan is prohibited until April 4.

Stranded passengers began to troop outside the gates of the Philippine Ports Authority and North Port Passenger Terminal in Manila since the start of imposition of the tighter quarantine protocols on March 22. The number dropped to 30 as of Friday, March 26.

“Sa tala natin kaninang umaga, nasa 30 na lamang itong nasa labas na hindi makapasok sa pasilidad natin sa north harbor primarily because wala silang documentation na dala-dala papuntang Zamboanga City,” Santiago said.

Santiago furthered that only APOR or authorized persons outside residence, stranded or returning residents are allowed to return in their respective provinces.

He added that passengers have to present complete requirements before they are allowed to board the ship.

“Nag abiso po yung ating region sa Western Visayas na meron silang moratorium na hindi sila tatanggap ng mga inbound passengers from March 22 to April 4. Sa Palawan, ang tatanggapin lang nila APOR. Sa Zamboanga, ang ni-rerequire nila na may negative RT-PCR result yung mga biyahero natin,” he said.