Philippines sees 4,899 new COVID-19 infections; total hits 621,498

The Philippines’ tally of COVID-19 cases reached 621,498 on Sunday with 4,899 new infections as five laboratories failed to submit data on time.

The Department of Health said the new cases pushed the total active cases in the country to 48,157.

Among these, 91.8% were mild, 4.2% were asymptomatic, 1.6% were critical, and 1.6% were in severe condition.

Total recoveries also rose to 560,512 after 13,371 more patients overcame the respiratory illness.

Meanwhile, 63 more fatalities brought the death toll to 12,829.

The DOH noted that 12 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 16 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Data from the DOH also showed that 55% of the country’s intensive care unit beds were available, while 74% of the mechanical ventilators were ready for use.

Earlier, the OCTA Research group said daily new cases of COVID-19 in the country may reach 7,000 by the end of March.

OCTA's Dr. Guido David believed that the reproduction number may have already increased to nearly 2. A reproduction number of one or higher is an indication of the continuous transmission of the virus.

David said the increase in cases may be connected to COVID-19 variants.

Japanese health authorities have detected a new COVID-19 variant from a traveler from the Philippines.

Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases said the variant contains N501Y and E484K, two mutations of concern that had been linked to increased contagiousness and lowered vaccine efficacy, respectively.

DOH technical working group expert-member Anna Ong-Lim said the new coronavirus variant, dubbed the P.3 variant, is unique to the Philippines. — DVM, GMA News