Philippines reports 12,225 new COVID-19 cases, record-high 401 new deaths

The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases rose to 840,554 on Friday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 12,225 new infections even as 10 laboratories failed to submit reports on time.

Due to this, the number of active cases in the country continued to rise to 178,351, the highest recorded this year.

Of this, 97.5% are mild, 1.4% are asymptomatic, 0.5% are severe, and 0.4% are in critical condition.

The DOH also reported the highest number of new fatalities since the pandemic started at 401, bringing the country’s death toll to 14,520. The previous highest number of fatalities recorded was at 382 on April 6.

Meanwhile, 946 more patients have recovered from the illness, bringing the total to 647,683.

Thirty-seven duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count.

“Moreover, 213 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the DOH said.

Data from the DOH showed that 63% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are in use while 46% of the mechanical ventilators are occupied.

In the National Capital Region, 80% of the ICU beds are being utilized by patients while 60% of the mechanical ventilators are in use.

The OCTA Research group earlier said the government should extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the NCR Plus bubble for another week to slow down the surge in COVID-19 cases.

However, Malacañang shot down the idea, saying it was unlikely. -MDM, GMA News