8,346 new Philippine COVID-19 infections; active cases at 71,472 –DOH

The Philippines on Sunday registered 8,346 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total tally to 1,054,983, as seven laboratories failed to submit data on time.

The Department of Health said this brought the total active cases in the country to 71,472, of which, 94.7% are mild, 1.9% are asymptomatic, 1.1% are critical, and 1.4% are in severe condition.

Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries also rose to 966,080 after 9,072 more patients recovered from the respiratory illness.

The death toll climbed to 17,431 with 77 new fatalities.

The DOH said 16 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 32 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Data from the DOH showed that 64% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are utilized, while 43% of the mechanical ventilators are also in use.

Earlier in the day, the OCTA Research group said the average number of new COVID-19 cases nationwide has declined by 11% in the past seven days.

However, the researchers emphasized that this should not yet be seen as an effect of the modified enhanced community quarantine. — DVM, GMA News