Philippines’ COVID-19 cases exceed 971,000 with 8,767 new infections

The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases rose to 971,049 on Thursday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 8,767 new infections as one laboratory failed to submit data on time.

The DOH also announced that 17,138 more patients have recovered from the illness, bringing the total to 846,691, while 105 new fatalities brought the death toll to 16,370.

The high number of recoveries since Sunday, April 18, reduced the number of total active cases to 107,988, or 8,446 cases less than the 116,434 data on April 21.

Of this 96.6% are mild, 1.3% are asymptomatic, 0.9% are severe, and 0.7% are in critical condition.

Twenty-five duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count.

Meanwhile, 43 cases that were previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as fatalities after the final validation.

Data from the DOH showed that 64% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are in use while 45% of the mechanical ventilators are occupied.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), 80% of the ICU beds are being utilized by patients while 61% of the mechanical ventilators are in use.

The OCTA Research Group earlier said that the COVID-19 reproduction number in the NCR has gone down to 0.99 but there is no assurance yet that it signifies a downward trend.—LDF, GMA News