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Philippines posts 11,995 new COVID-19 cases from Oct. 17-23, down by 22%
By GISELLE OMBAY,GMA NewsThe Philippines logged 11,995 new COVID-19 infections from October 17 to 23, 2022, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
This is 22% lower than the 15,314 cases recorded from October 10 to 16.
Based on the agency’s latest bulletin, the daily case average for the recent week decreased to 1,714 from the 2,188 reported from October 10 to 16.
A total of 272 additional verified COVID-19-related deaths were also belatedly reported in the past week. These deaths were recorded from April 2021 to October 2022.
Of the 272 deaths, 28 occurred in October 2022, three in September 2022, three in August 2022, one in January 2022, 186 in August 2021, 14 in July 2021, 19 in May 2021, and 18 in April 2021.
Twenty-six of the deaths also occurred between October 10 to 23 alone.
Data also showed that 650 severe and critical cases were admitted in hospitals due to COVID-19 as of October 23. This was 9% of the total COVID-19 admissions, according to DOH.
Of the 2,520 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 581 or 23.1% were occupied. Meanwhile, 5,666 or 26.4% of the 21,474 non-ICU COVID-19 beds were in use.
Of the new cases recorded from October 10 to 16, there were four individuals tagged as new severe or critical cases. DOH said this was only 0.04% of the new cases reported for the week.
The seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate
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Seven areas in the country, however, showed a “high level” increase in positivity rate during the same period. These are Cagayan, Iloilo, Isabela, La Union, Misamis Oriental, Pangasinan, and Tarlac.
Vaccination updates
Further, a total of 73,482,574 Filipinos or 94.09% of the government’s target population are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to DOH.
Of this number, 85,137 were vaccinated from October 17 to 23.
The number of boosted individuals also increased to 20,472,983, of whom 154,202 were boosted in the same period.
Meanwhile, at least 6.9 million senior citizens or 79.19% of the target A2 population have also received their primary vaccine series.
1,334 cases on October 24
On Monday, October 24, 2022, the DOH reported 1,334 new cases as the country's active tally dropped to 22,850 from 23,369 on Sunday.
This is the fourth straight day with fewer than 2,000 new cases. Moreover, this is also the sixth straight day with fewer than 25,000 active infections.
The new infections raised the nationwide count to 3,995,967.
The Health department said total recoveries rose to 3,909,303, while the country’s death toll rose by 35 to 63,814.—With Mel Matthew Doctor/LDF, GMA News