The strict lockdown measure has proven effective, helping the Philippines prevent 1.3 million - 3.5 million infections, said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. (Photo: Reuters)

In his annual state of the nation speech on 27 July, Duterte affirmed the country's lockdown - one of the longest and most stringent lockdown orders in the world - helped the Philippines basically control the disease and curb the number of COVID-19 cases.

Schools would not reopen until scientists develop a vaccine against COVID-19, he said.

However, Duterte acknowledged that the government was late in implementing the SARS-CoV-2 virus testing programme.

According to the President, his country now has 93 official laboratories capable of detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus nationwide, and the government aims to conduct 1.4 million screening tests by the end of July.

The Philippine Ministry of Health reported 1,657 new COVID-19 cases in the same day, lifting the total in the country to 82,040, including 1,945 deaths.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, statistics on the Ministry of Health's website show that with 1,525 newly-confirmed cases of COVID-19, the total number of infections in the country has increased to 100,303 as of 27 July. The country recorded 57 more deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 4,838.

Source: VNA