Philippines logs second-highest 23,134 new COVID-19 cases

The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday reported 23,134 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, the second highest daily infections recorded since the start of the pandemic.

On Saturday last week, the country logged an all-time high of 26,303 cases.

According to the DOH, this brought the nationwide tally to 2,347,550 and active cases to 184,088.

Of the active cases, 90.5% are mild, 5% are asymptomatic, 1.3% are severe, and 0.6% are in critical condition.

DOH also announced that total recoveries climbed to 2,126,879 with 27,024 new ones, the highest since April 18.

Meanwhile, 255 new fatalities pushed the death toll to 36,583.

A total of two laboratories failed to submit data on time.

Fifty-nine duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count.

“Moreover, 143 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the DOH said.

Based on reports on September 16, the Philippines was also able to test 73,635 individuals, of which 26% tested positive for the illness.

Meanwhile, the country’s intensive care unit beds and ward beds for COVID-19 patients are at high risk. High risk means the occupancy rate is more than 70% but less than 85%.

Around 77% of the total 4,400 ICU beds in the country are occupied while 77% of the 1,500 beds in NCR are in use.

Data also showed that 73% of the 15,900 ward beds in the Philippines are being utilized while 74% of the 4,400 ward beds in NCR are in use.

The OCTA Research group earlier said that the reproduction number in NCR went down to 1.22. -MDM, GMA News