DEATH TOLL AT 50,096

Philippines reports 356 new COVID-19 infections; active cases at 11,373

The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday reported 356 new COVID-19 cases bringing the country’s total COVID-19 tally to 2,836,360.

This is the 18th straight day when less than 1,000 cases were reported.

Based on the DOH’s latest case bulletin, the active infections stood at 11,373.

Of these cases 902 are asymptomatic, 4,328 are mild, 3,747 are moderate, 1,991 are severe, and 405 are in critical condition.

The DOH said the total recoveries climbed to 2,774,891 after 878 more patients recovered from the viral disease.

Meanwhile, 135 new fatalities brought the death toll to 50,096.

The Health Department reported that the country’s COVID-19 positivity rate was at 1.1%, slightly lower than the 1.3% recorded on Friday. Both are within the World Health Organization's requirement target of less than 5% positivity rate.

The total conducted COVID-19 tests were 35,320.

The data also showed that 23% of 3,700 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients nationwide are in use.

At least 14% of the 12,300 ward beds in the country were utilized, while 22% of the 3,800 ward beds in the National Capital Region (NCR) were in use.

Based on the latest report, the DOH said four laboratories were not operational since December 9, while four laboratories failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

The Health Department also reported seven duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, seven are recoveries.

Meanwhile, at least 125 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation. — DVM, GMA News