MANILA – A total of 2,529 new infections were reported by the Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday, bringing the latest coronavirus disease (Covid-19) case count to 234,570, with 69,112 active cases.
The new cases are based on tests by 92 out of 113 current operational laboratories.
Meanwhile, 1,136 new recoveries and 53 fatalities were logged, raising the number to 161,668 and 3,790, respectively.
Most of the newly-announced cases were recorded in the National Capital Region with 1,171, followed by Negros Occidental with 197, Laguna with 145, Cavite with 117, and Bulacan with 70.
According to DOH, 21 of the new deaths happened in September, 18 in August, 12 in July, and one each in June and April. Thirty-two of the deceased are from NCR, six are from Region 3, four from Region 6, four from Region 4-A, two each from Region 1, CAR, and BARMM, and one from Region 12.
There were 30 duplicates removed from the total case count, 15 of which were recovered cases.
“In addition, there’s one case that was found to be negative and was removed from the total case count. Moreover, there were two cases that were previously reported as recovered but after final validation, they were deaths,” the DOH said.
Out of the active cases, at least 90.4 percent have mild symptoms, 7.2 percent are asymptomatic, one percent are severe, and 1.4 percent are critical.
‘Health system capacity’
Nationwide, the bed capacity for Covid-19 is broken down as follows: 1,800 ICU beds, 13,600 isolation beds, and 5,600 ward beds.
About 50 percent of the total ICU beds are occupied, including 43 percent of isolation beds and 49 percent of ward beds.
At least 72 percent of mechanical ventilators dedicated to Covid-19 patients, meanwhile, remain available.
In a Laging Handa briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that the critical care utilization rate in NCR has gradually decreased from 80 to 81 percent in the past to about 66 percent.
Based on the latest bulletin of DOH, about 65 percent of the 691 ICU beds are in use, while the total 3,800 isolation and 1,900 ward beds are at 62 percent and 66 percent occupancy, respectively.
“Nakita po natin na iyong One Hospital Command System natin ay nakapagbigay ng magandang dulot dito po sa pagde-decongest ng ating ospital. Kabalikat na po niyan iyong Oplan Kalinga natin (We could see that our One Hospital Command System is bringing good results in decongesting our hospitals. That program complements our Oplan Kalinga),” she said.
Over 2.58 million people have so far been tested by 87 licensed RT-PCR laboratories and 28 GeneXpert laboratories across the country.
Meanwhile, Vergeire noted that the DOH is still behind the targeted 10,000 new medical front-liners to respond against the pandemic.
While the recruitment had been continuous, Vergeire said the government is hoping the number would still increase in the coming days.
“Gusto ko lang ipaalala at ipaalam sa ating mga healthcare workers suportado po kayo ng Kagawaran ng Kalusugan. Lahat po ng puwedeng maibigay ay atin pong pinipilit na maibigay sa inyong lahat para po kayo ay maproteksyunan. We recognize na importante po kayo sa labang ito at kami po ay patuloy na susuporta sa inyo (I just want to tell our healthcare workers that the DOH fully supports them. We are trying our best to provide everything that you may need to be protected. We recognize that you are important in this fight),” she said.