Philippines logs 291 new COVID-19 cases; active cases down to 9,924

The Philippines on Saturday logged 291 new COVID-19 cases bringing the nationwide tally to 2,837,555.

Based on the Department of Health (DOH)’s latest bulletin, active infections stood at 9,924, of which, 501 are asymptomatic, 3,854 are mild, 3,388 are moderate, 1,799 are severe, and 382 are in critical condition.

The Philippines' COVID-19 positivity rate was at 0.9%, which is within the World Health Organization's requirement target of less than 5% positivity rate. The total conducted COVID-19 tests were at 35,527.

The DOH said recoveries climbed by 523 to 2,776,956 while 106 new fatalities pushed the death toll to 50,675.

The latest data showed that 22% of 3,500 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients nationwide are in use.

At least 12% of the 12,200 ward beds in the country were utilized, while 19% of the 3,700 ward beds in the National Capital Region (NCR) were in use.

Based on the report, the DOH said four laboratories were not operational since December 16, while three laboratories failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

The Health Department reported that 13 duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, 10 are recoveries, and one death.

Meanwhile, at least 97 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation. — DVM, GMA News