9,628 new COVID-19 cases push Philippines’ tally to 945,745

The Philippines’ coronavirus tally climbed to 945,745 on Monday after the Department of Health announced 9,628 new infections as four laboratories failed to submit data on time.

The DOH said the new cases brought the number of active cases in the country to 141,375, of which, 96.9% are mild, 1.5% are asymptomatic, 0.5 are critical, and 0.7% are in severe condition.

Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries rose to 788,322 after 9,266 more patients defeated the respiratory illness.

The death toll increased to 16,048 with 88 new fatalities.

The DOH noted that 16 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 19 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Data from the DOH also showed that 66% of the country’s intensive care unit beds and 47% of the mechanical ventilators are utilized.

The country continues to battle a surge in COVID-19 cases, which health authorities have attributed to the new variants, increased mobility and relaxed adherence to health protocols.

The Philippines has logged 659 B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom) variant cases, 695 B.1.351 (South Africa) variant cases, 2 P.1 (Brazil) variant cases, and 148 cases of the P.3 variant first detected in Central Visayas.—LDF, GMA News