1,235 new COVID-19 cases push Philippines’ total to over 540,000

The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases rose to 540,227 on Tuesday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,235 new infections as eight laboratories failed to submit data on time.

According to the DOH, 53 more patients have recovered from the illness, bringing the total to 499,764, while 65 new fatalities brought the death toll to 11,296.

Three duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count while 59 cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as fatalities after final validation.

There are also 29,167 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine. Among these, 88 .6 percent are mild, 5.5 percent are asymptomatic, 2.6 percent are severe, and 2.7 percent are in critical condition.

Data from the DOH also showed that 62 percent of the country’s intensive care unit beds are available while 79 percent of the mechanical ventilators are ready for use.

On Monday, the Health Department claimed the country’s pandemic response is improving, citing global rankings in terms of total cases, active cases, morbidity, mortality, and case fatality rate.

Meanwhile, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said that the simulation exercise held earlier in preparation for the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines this month went faster than expected.—LDF,GMA News