Philippines records 7,757 new COVID-19 cases; total now at 663,794

The Philippine tally of COVID-19 cases reached 663,794 on Sunday with 7,757 new infections as two laboratories failed to submit data on time.

This is the third consecutive day when more than 7,000 cases were reported.

The Department of Health said this brought the total active cases in the country to 73,072. Of which, 95% are mild, 2.3% are asymptomatic, 1% are critical, and 1.1% are in severe condition.

Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries also rose to 577,754 after 15,288 more patients recovered from the respiratory illness. This is the highest number of recoveries reported since January 31 when 11,653 individuals overcame the disease.

The death toll increased to 12,968 with 39 new fatalities.

The DOH said 19 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while two cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Data from the DOH also showed that 53% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are available, while 31% of the mechanical ventilators are ready for use.

The country is seeing a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases, which the DOH said is being driven by new coronavirus variants and relaxed adherence to health protocols.

The OCTA Research group meanwhile projected that the country could see 11,000 new COVID-19 cases daily by the end of March.

Currently, the country reported 104 P.3 variant cases, 223 B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom) variant cases, and 152 B.1.351 variant cases.

Further, at least 240,000 health workers have gotten their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine three weeks since the rollout, according to vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. — DVM, GMA News