Philippines logs 899 new COVID-19 cases; active cases at 17,052

The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday recorded 899 new COVID-19 infections, making it the fourth consecutive day when less than 1,000 cases were reported.

The DOH said active infections stood at 17,052. Of these cases, 49% are mild, 6.9% are asymptomatic, 22.77% are moderate, 15% are severe, and 6.3% are in critical condition.

The Philippines' COVID-19 positivity rate was at 2.4%, slightly lower than the 2.5% positivity rate recorded on Friday.

This is within the World Health Organization's requirement target of less than a 5% positivity rate. Total conducted COVID-19 tests were 37,224.

Total recoveries climbed by 1,667 to 2,765,920 while 188 new fatalities pushed the death toll to 48,205.

Total COVID-19 cases were 2,831,177.

Data also showed that 27% of 3,700 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients nationwide are in use.

At least 16% of the 13,300 ward beds in the country were utilized, while 22% of the 3,900 ward beds in the National Capital Region (NCR) were in use.

In the latest report, the health department said two laboratories were not operational since November 25, while there were two laboratories that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

The DOH also reported seven duplicates were removed from the total case count. All seven cases were recoveries.

In addition, 102 cases were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count. Of these, 101 are recoveries.

At least 156 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved the temporary suspension of inbound international flights from South Africa, Botswana, and other countries with local cases or with the likelihood of occurrences of the B.1.1.529 variant, which is declared a “variant of concern.”

The ban is effective immediately and would remain until December 15.

The DOH has also recommended a ban on travelers from Hong Kong after the detection in the territory of the new COVID-19 variant.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the DOH was awaiting the IATF's amended recommendation within the day. — DVM, GMA News