1,534 new COVID-19 cases logged; active tally at 55K

The Department of Health on Wednesday reported 1,534 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the country's total tally to 3,655,709.

According to the DOH, the country's positivity rate was at 6.1%. The total conducted COVID-19 tests were 24,527.

The new infections brought the active cases to 55,449, of which 652 are asymptomatic; 50,258 are mild; 1,426 are severe; and 302 are in critical condition.

Of the cases reported today, the DOH said 1,057 or 69% occurred within the recent 14 days from February 10 to 23.

The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region with 205 or 19%, Region 3 with 114 or 11%, and Region 4-A with 113 or 11%.

Total recoveries also increased to 3,544,283 after 2,729 more patients recovered from the disease.

The death toll climbed to 55,977 with 201 new fatalities.

Of the 201 deaths, the DOH said 69 occurred in February 2022, 118 in January 2022, two in December 2021, one in November 2021, four in October 2021, and seven in September 2021 due to the late encoding of death information to its system.

The DOH noted that 109 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 187 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational on February 21, while two labs were not able to submit their data on time.

Latest data from the DOH also showed that 29% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are utilized, while 16% of the mechanical ventilators are also in use.

In Metro Manila, 25% of the ICU beds are utilized, while 17% of the ventilators are in use.

Metro Manila mayors earlier agreed to recommend the deescalation of the capital region to Alert Level 1 starting March 1.

Under Alert Level 1, intrazonal and interzonal travel shall be allowed without regard to age and comorbidities. All establishments, persons, or activities, are allowed to operate, work, or be undertaken at full on-site or venue/seating capacity provided it is consistent with minimum public health standards.—LDF, GMA News