Philippines reports 32,744 new COVID-19 cases; active tally at 291K

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday registered 32,744 new COVID-19 infections pushing the nationwide tally to 3,357,083.

The Philippines’ active case count stood at 291,618, of which 9,015 are asymptomatic, 277,833 are mild, 2,979 are moderate, 1,487 are severe, and 304 are in critical condition.

The Health department said of the 32,744 reported cases on Friday, 31,456 or 96% occurred within the recent 14 days from January 8 to 21.

Ngayong 4 PM, Enero 21, 2022, ang Department of Health ay nakapagtala ng 32,744 na karagdagang kaso ng COVID-19. Samantala ay mayroon namang naitalang 16,385 na gumaling at 156 na pumanaw.

Sa kabuuang bilang ng mga naitalang kaso sa bansa, 8.7% (291,618) ang aktibong kaso, pic.twitter.com/mKFvq7qXTE

— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) January 21, 2022

Among the top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region (NCR) with 6,917 or 22%, followed by Region 4-A with 6,398 or 20% and Region 3 with 4,122 or 13%.

Meanwhile, at least 16,385 more patients recovered from the viral disease, bringing the total to 3,012,156.

The death toll climbed to 53,309 with 156 new fatalities.

The country’s COVID-19 positivity rate increased at 44%, which is higher than the World Health Organization's requirement target of less than 5%.

The total conducted COVID-19 tests were at 75,535.

Based on the latest data, it showed that 51% of 3,900 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients nationwide are in use.

At least 54% of the 14,700 ward beds in the country were utilized, while 56% of the 4,600 ward beds in the NCR were in use.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational since January 19, while there were three laboratories that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

The health department reported 139 duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, 82 are recoveries

In addition, at least 108 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.—LDF, GMA News