1,987 new Covid-19 cases, recoveries now over 159K

The DOH said the additional cases reported were based on the total Covid-19 tests done by 91 out of 113 operational laboratories. (PCI photo)

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reported 1,987 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections, raising the overall tally to 228,403 with only 64,207 active cases.

The DOH said the additional cases reported were based on the total Covid-19 tests done by 91 out of 113 operational laboratories.

It reported that of the active cases, about 90.8 percent are mild, 6.7 percent are asymptomatic, 1.0 percent severe, and 1.4 percent critical.

The majority of the newly announced cases were from the National Capital Region (NCR) with 818 cases, Cavite with 153 cases, Laguna with 125 cases, Negros Occidental with 122 cases, and Rizal with 78 cases.

“Of the 1,987 reported cases today, 1,627 or 82 percent occurred within the recent 14 days (August 21-September 3, 2020) and the top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were NCR with 657 or 40 percent, Region 4-A (Calabarzon) with 347 or 21 percent and Region 6 (Western Visayas) with 151 or 9 percent,” the DOH said in its daily case bulletin.

The DOH also reported 880 new recoveries and 65 deaths, bringing the total number of recoveries to 159,475 and the number of deaths to 3,688.

“Of the 65 deaths, two occurred in September which is 3 percent, 55 in August which is 85 percent, six in July which is 9 percent, one in June which is 2 percent and one in April which is 2 percent and the deaths were from NCR with 35 or 54 percent, Region 4-A (Calabarzon) with nine or 14 percent, Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) with six or 9 percent, Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) with three or 5 percent, Caraga Administrative Region with three or 5 percent, Region 1 (Ilocos Region) with two or 3 percent, Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) with two or 3 percent, Region 12 (Soccsksargen) with two or 3 percent, Region 3 (Central Luzon) with one or 2 percent, Region 6 (Western Visayas) with one or 2 percent, and Region 7 (Central Visayas) with one or 2 percent,” the DOH said.

It added that some 24 duplicates that were removed from the total case count and of these, 12 recovered cases have been removed.

“Moreover, there were three cases that were previously reported as recovered but after final validation, they were deaths,” the DOH said.

As of Wednesday, the 86 licensed reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratories and 28 licensed GeneXpert laboratories have conducted a total of 2,536,297 tests nationwide.

The DOH said it has a 20,500 total bed capacity dedicated to Covid-19 patients.

About 50 percent of 1,700 intensive care unit beds are in use; 45 percent of 13,400 isolation beds; and 49 percent of 5,400 ward beds.

About 28 percent of 2,200 ventilators are in use.