Philippines logs 22,958 new COVID-19 infections; active cases at 270K

The Philippines on Wednesday documented 22,958 more coronavirus disease infections, bringing the total to 3,293,625.

Figures from Department of Health (DOH) indicated that the infections include 21,691 cases that occurred within  14 days from January 6 to January 19, 2022.

Ngayong 4 PM, Enero 19, 2022, ang Department of Health ay nakapagtala ng 22,958 na karagdagang kaso ng COVID-19. Samantala ay mayroon namang naitalang 36,611 na gumaling at 82 na pumanaw. pic.twitter.com/JESpirSH6F

— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) January 19, 2022

The DOH data also showed that top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were NCR with 7,861 cases or 36%, followed by Region 4-A with 4,647 or 21% and Region 3 with 2,049 or 9%.

The fresh infections also pushed the active cases to 270,728. Of these, 8,335 are asymptomatic, 257,632 are mild, 2,970 are moderate, 1,487 are severe and 304 are critical.

The country's positivity rate, meanwhile, reached 43.5%, with 62,531 total conducted COVID-19 tests.

In addition, the Philippines posted 36,611 additional recoveries, bringing the total recovery tally to 2,969,853.

Further, the country's fatality tally rose to 53,044, with 82 new deaths.

Of the 82, 56 occurred in January 2022 (68%), 8 in October 2021 (10%), 15 in September 2021 (18%), 1 in July 2021 (1%), 1 in May 2021 (1%), and 1 in January 2021 (1%) due to late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya.

"This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date," the DOH added.

On the country's healthcare system, the DOH figures showed that the nation's occupancy rate for intensive care unit beds was at 49% while utilization rate for mechanical ventilators was at 23%.

In the  metropolis, 53% of ICU beds are occupied while 29% ventilators are in use.

The DOH also removed 91 duplicates, including 64 recoveries, in the total case count. It also reclassified 32 recoveries into deaths.

All laboratories were in use on January 17, 2022 but  six of them failed to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS), the DOH said.

In the last 14 days, DOH said the six non-reporting labs contribute, on average, 1.5% of samples tested and 1.9% of positive individuals.—LDF, GMA News