Active Covid-19 cases below 10K for 9th straight day

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday posted 283 new recoveries and 433 new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases that slightly raised the total number of active infections to 9,522.

The recovery count is now at 2,777,918, or 97.9 percent of the total 2,838,640.

From 10,167 active infections on December 17, the total fell to 9,924 the following day and has not breached the 10,000-mark to date.

Of the active cases, 3,574 are mild, 3,339 are moderate, 458 are asymptomatic, 374 are critical, and 1,777 are severe.

“Of the 433 reported cases today, 392 or 91 percent occurred within the recent 14 days, December 13 to 26, 2021,” the DOH stated.

The top regions with most cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region with 192 or 49 percent, Calabarzon with 45 or 11 percent, and Region 3 (Central Luzon) with 33 or 8 percent of the country’s new cases.

The death toll reached 51,200 with 13 new deaths.

“Of the 13 deaths, 5 or 38 percent occurred in December 2021, 3 or 23 percent in October 2021, 2 or 15 percent in September 2021, 1 or 8 percent in July 2021, and 2 or 15 percent in March 2021,” the DOH said.

The COVIDKaya, a digital application used by health care workers to collect and share data about Covid-19 cases, is continuously coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date.

On December 24, about 2 percent of 21,116 who were tested turned out positive for Covid-19.

“About five duplicates were removed from the total case count as they were recoveries. Also, there were 169 cases that have tested negative and have been reclassified as recoveries after final validation,” the DOH said.

Nine cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Two laboratories were not operational on December 24 and six laboratories were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.

The DOH noted that the six laboratories contribute, on average, 0.7 percent of samples tested, and 0.9 percent of positive individuals based on data in the last 14 days.

To date, 17 percent of 3,600 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 20 percent of 19,100 isolation beds, 10 percent of 12,300 ward beds, and 10 percent of 2,900 ventilators are utilized by patients with Covid-19 nationwide.

Meanwhile, 17 percent of 1,300 ICU beds, 18 percent of 4,500 isolation beds, 15 percent of 3,700 ward beds, and 11 percent of 1,000 ventilators are in use in the National Capital Region.