The COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).[4] As of September 29, 2024, there have been 4,173,631[1] reported cases, and 66,864[1] reported deaths, the fifth highest in Southeast Asia, behind Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The first case in the Philippines was identified on January 30, 2020, and involved a 38-year-old Chinese woman who was confined at San Lazaro Hospital in Metro Manila.[a] On February 1, 2020, a posthumous test result from a 44-year-old Chinese man turned out positive for the virus, making the Philippines the first country outside China to record a confirmed death from the disease.[7][8][9]
After over a month without recording any cases, the Philippines confirmed its first local transmission on March 7, 2020.[10][11] Since then, the virus has spread to the country's 81 provinces.[12] National and local governments have been imposing community quarantines since March 15, 2020, as a measure to limit the spread of the virus.[13] These include the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that was implemented in March–May 2020.[b][14] On March 24, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, a law that granted him additional powers to handle the pandemic. This was repealed by a follow-up law, the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which he signed on September 11.[15]
The Philippines had a slightly lower testing capacity than its neighbors in Southeast Asia during the first months of the pandemic in the country.[16][17] COVID-19 tests had to be taken in Australia, as the Philippines lacked testing kits.[18][19] By the end of January 2020, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila began its testing operations and became the country's first testing laboratory.[20] The DOH has since then accredited 279 laboratories that are capable of detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.[21] As of September 10, 2021, 277 of these have conducted 19,742,325 tests from more than 18,551,810 unique individuals.[2][3]
COVID-19 cases throughout the country started declining in February 2022,[22] and by May 2022, the health department noted that the country was at "minimal-risk case classification" with an average of only 159 cases per day recorded from May 3 to 9.[23] As of early June 2022, 69.4 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, while 14.3 million individuals received their booster shots.[24] In August 2022, Filipino public schools reopened for in person learning for the first time in two years.[25] As of 23 February 2023, a total of 170,545,638 vaccine doses have been administered.[26]
On July 22, 2023, President Bongbong Marcos lifted COVID-19 pandemic as state of public health emergency.[27]
On June 14, 2024, a Reuters expose revealed that the United States allegedly launched a clandestine campaign against China in the Philippines at the height of the pandemic, causing economic damage and putting innocent lives at risk. It was meant to undermine China's inoculation ― vaccine, face masks, and testing kits. Its purpose is to counter China's growing sphere of influence in the country since the Duterte administration has a good relationship with China.[28] The Philippines' Department of Health wants to investigate the matter.[29]