PH logs 3,656 new cases, lowest in over 3 months

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported 3,656 new Covid-19 cases, the country’s lowest daily tally in over three months.

The new infections brought the total number of active cases nationwide to 67,061, according to the DOH latest case bulletin.

About 77.9 percent of these active cases are mild, 6.8 percent are asymptomatic, 2 percent are critical, 4.6 percent are severe, and 8.69 percent are moderate.

The DOH also said 228 more patients recovered from the disease, bringing the total recoveries to 2,627,331.

It said recoveries account for 96.1 percent of the total case count which has reached 2,735,369 since the start of the pandemic last year.

The DOH also logged five new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 40,977.

According to DOH data on Oct. 18, about 11.6 percent of 42,296 who were tested turned out positive for Covid-19.

“About 20 duplicates were removed from the total case count, and of these, 16 are recoveries. Also, five cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” it added.

All laboratories were operational on Oct. 18 while two laboratories were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.

The two non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 0.5 percent of samples tested, and 1.2 percent of positive individuals based on data in the last 14 days.

To date, 59 percent of 4,300 intensive care unit beds, 46 percent of 21,100 isolation beds, 44 percent of 14,800 ward beds, and 43 percent of 3,400 ventilators are utilized by patients with Covid-19 nationwide.

Meanwhile, 53 percent of 1,500 intensive care unit beds, 39 percent of 4,900 isolation beds, 39 percent of 4,200 ward beds, and 40 percent of 1,000 ventilators dedicated to patients with Covid-19 are in use in the National Capital Region.