PH tallied 96 new COVID-19 cases; 803 in total

At 4:00 p.m. today, DOH confirmed 96 new cases of 2019 coronavirus disease. The country now has a total of 803 cases.

Nine more people have died from the COVID-19 in the country, bringing the nationwide death toll to 54, the health department reported Friday.

Meanwhile, three more patients have recovered from COVID-19, for a total of 31 recoveries.

Worldwide, COVID-19 has killed more than 24,000 people, mostly in Italy, although the outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December last year. Over 500,000 people have been infected, according to the Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 global tracker.

Eight in ten, or around 80 percent, of infected patients experience "mild illness" and eventually recover from COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. Some 15 percent experience severe illness while 5 percent were critically ill, the WHO said.

To prevent the spread of the virus, authorities are urging people to practice regular hand washing, cover their mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and avoid close contact with those who exhibit virus symptoms.