1,893 new COVID-19 cases push Philippine total over 427,000

The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases rose to 427,797 on Saturday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 1,893 new infections as 11 laboratories failed to submit data on time.

Davao City recorded the highest number of new cases with 200, followed by Negros Occidental with 123, Samar (Western Samar) with 84, Pampanga with 60, and Quezon City with 57.

The DOH also announced that total recoveries rose to 388,062 after 474 more patients recovered from the illness while 79 new fatalities brought the death toll to 8,333.

Meanwhile, 14 duplicate cases were removed from the total case count.

“Of these, 10 recovered cases and a death have been removed. Moreover, 18 cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths,” the DOH said.

There are also 31,402 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, of which 84.6 percent are mild, 8.4 percent are asymptomatic, 2.3 percent are severe, and 4.4 percent are in critical condition.

Data from the agency showed that 58 percent of the country’s intensive care unit beds are available while 82 percent of the mechanical ventilators are ready for use.

With the Christmas holidays approaching, the DOH advised the public to keep celebrations within members of the same household as it warned of a potential rise in COVID-19 cases should they invite people from different households.

The Health Department also discouraged both national government agencies and local government units from conducting outreach programs since such activities were “going to draw crowds.”

Meanwhile, more than 61.21 million people have been reported to be infected by the COVID-19 globally and 1,438,281 have died. — DVM, GMA News