Philippines reports 8,702 new COVID-19 cases; active tally at 153K

The Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday 8,702 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the country's total case count to 3,585,461.

The new infections brought the country's active case count to 153,335, of which 143,493 are mild; 4,923 are asymptomatic; 1,528 are severe; and 324 are in critical condition.

Of the cases reported today, the DOH said 8,463 or 97% occurred within the recent 14 days from January 21 to February 3.

The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were Region 6 with 1,039 or 12%, Region 7 with 799 or 9%, and Region 11 with 785 or 9%.

Total recoveries also climbed to 3,377,958 after 15,290 more patients recovered from the respiratory illness.

The death toll rose to 54,168 with 71 new fatalities.

Of the 71 deaths, the DOH said 66 occurred in January 2022, two in October 2021, and one each in September, June, and April 2021 due to the late encoding of death information to its system.

Meanwhile, the country's positivity rate was at 25.5%. The total conducted COVID-19 tests were 42,446.

The DOH noted that 539 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 29 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational on February 1, while five labs were not able to submit its data on time.

Latest data from the DOH also showed that 44% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are utilized, while 24% of the mechanical ventilators are also in use.

In Metro Manila, 37% of the ICU beds are utilized, while 23% of the ventilators are in use.—LDF, GMA News