Philippines logs 10,271 new COVID-19 cases from July 4-10

The Philippines recorded a total of 10,271 new COVID-19 cases from July 4 to July 10, 2022, around 39% higher than the cases reported the previous week, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday.

Based on the DOH’s weekly case bulletin, the daily case average for the week was 1,467. This was higher than the 1,057 case average from June 27 to July 10, with 7,398  new COVID-19 infections.

There were also 50 more verified deaths last week, but none of them occurred from June 27 to July 10.

Of the 50 deaths, one occurred in May 2022, three in February 2022, eight in January 2022, three in December 2021, one in November 2021, two in October 2021, 12 in September 2021, seven in August 2021, two in July 2021, three in June 2021, six in April 2021, one in March 2021, and one in November 2020.

Data also showed that 555 severe and critical cases are currently admitted in hospitals due to COVID-19 as of July 10.

Of the 2,414 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 411 or 17% were occupied. Meanwhile, 4,863 or 22.7% of the 21,424 non-ICU COVID-19 beds were in use.

Of the new cases recorded in the covered period, there were 27 individuals tagged as a new severe or critical case. This was 0.27% of the new cases reported for the week.

Vaccination updates

A total of 71,055,752 individuals or 78.95% of the government’s target population are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to DOH.

Of this number, 697,115 were vaccinated from July 4 to July 10.

Meanwhile, at least 6.7 million senior citizens or 77.72% of the target A2 population have also received their primary vaccine series.

The DOH also noted that 15,342,652 individuals have received their booster shots. Of which, 394,872 were boosted in the same period.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante on Monday said it is already high time for the government to mandate the administration of booster shots to the general population as the COVID-19 infections in the country continue to increase.

The DOH, however, clarified the administration of booster shots and the primary vaccine series are still not mandatory in the country even as President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. reportedly agreed with the agency’s proposal to include the first booster dose before an individual could be tagged as fully vaccinated.—LDF, GMA News