261 more COVID-19 infections logged; active tally at 9,238

The Department of Health (DOH) registered on Wednesday 261 more COVID-19 infections, pushing the Philippines' total caseload to 2,837,784.

Of the 261 new cases, the DOH data indicated that 247 cases or 95% occurred within 14 days from December 9 to December 22, 2021. It also indicated that most of the cases were from Metro Manila with 74, followed by Calabarzon with 32 and Central Luzon with 20.

Meanwhile, the DOH documented 9,238 active cases, of which 507 are asymptomatic, 3,153 are mild, 3,400 are moderate, 1,801 are severe, and 377 are critical.

Ngayong 4 PM, Disyembre 22, 2021, ang Department of Health ay nakapagtala ng 261 na karagdagang kaso ng COVID-19. Samantala ay mayroon namang naitalang 395 na gumaling at 122 na pumanaw.

Sa kabuuang bilang ng mga naitalang kaso sa bansa, 0.3% (9,238) ang aktibong kaso, pic.twitter.com/Fmg9P13QFe

— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) December 22, 2021

The DOH data also showed that 122 more people were killed by the severe respiratory disease, increasing the death tally to 50,916.

Of the 122 deaths, 15 occurred in December 2021 (12%), 17 in November 2021 (14%), 39 in October 2021 (32%), 27 in September 2021 (22%), 10 in August 2021 (8%), 5 in July 2021 (4%), 2 in June 2021 (2%), 1 in May 2021 (1%), 2 in April 2021 (2%), 1 in August 2020 (1%), 2 in July 2020 (2%), and 1 in April 2020 (1%).

The DOH once again attributed the delayed inclusion of some deaths to late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya.

A total of 395 additional recoveries were reported, bringing the total recovery tally to 2,777,630.

The nationwide positivity rate slightly went up to 0.9% from 0.8%, but is still within the World Health Organization's target of below 5%. A total of 29,577 COVID-19 tests were conducted.

As cases go down, the DOH also continued to report a decrease in occupancy rate in the nation's healthcare system.

Nationwide, 20% of intensive care unit beds are utilized while 10% mechanical ventilators are in use.

In Metro Manila, 21% ICU beds are utilized while 11% ventilators are in use.

The nation's health agency also deleted four duplicates, including four recoveries in the total case count.

Also removed are 195 cases, including 189 recoveries, that turned out to be negative cases.

The DOH also modified the number of recoveries and deaths after reclassifying 113  recoveries to deaths.

Two laboratories did not operate on December 20, 2021 while 12 laboratories failed to submit their data to COVID-19 Document Repository System.

In the last 14 days, the DOH said these 14 labs contribute, on average, 2.8% of samples tested and 2.3% of positive individuals.—LDF, GMA News