Philippines logs 6,346 new COVID-19 cases from October 31 to November 6

The Philippines reported 6,346 new COVID-19 cases in the country from October 31 to November 6, 2022, with daily average cases reaching 907, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

Based on its latest weekly bulletin, the DOH said a total of 243 additional verified COVID-19-related deaths were recorded in the country. These deaths were monitored from March 2021 until the first week of November 2022.

Of the figures, three occurred on November 7; 37 in October 2022; two in September 2022; 58 in June 2021; 90 in May 2021; 40 in April 2021; and 13 in March 2021.

Twenty-eight of these fatalities happened between October 24 to November 6 alone. Data also showed that 640 severe and critical cases were admitted to hospitals due to COVID-19 as of November 6, the DOH said.

Of the 2,437 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 503, or 20.6% were occupied while 5,145, or 24.3% of the 21,281 non-ICU COVID-19 beds were in use.

Of the new cases logged in the recent week, two individuals were tagged as new severe or critical cases.

1,553 new cases recorded on Monday

Meanwhile, 1,553 new coronavirus cases were monitored in the country on Monday, the DOH said.

This marks the third straight day that fresh infections total more than 1,000, with 1,010 new COVID-19 cases monitored on Sunday.

According to the DOH data, the total nationwide caseload increased to 4,011,026. Likewise, the country’s active cases climbed to 16,745 from Sunday’s 16, 615.

Total recoveries rose to 3,929,981 while the death toll now stands at 64,291.

Metro Manila remained the region with the highest number of new infections in the last 14 days with 3,106. It was followed by Region IV with 1,942; Region VI with 1,352; Region III with 1,043 and Region IX with 906.

DOH said 9,048 individuals were tested for COVID-19 on Sunday, November 6 while 366 testing labs submitted their results.

Meanwhile, the country’s bed occupancy rate remains at low risk at 24% or 6,781 out of the 28,276 beds nationwide are occupied while 21,495 are vacant.

Vaccination updates

Further, over 73 million Filipinos, or 94.21%  of the government’s target population, are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the DOH said.

At present, fully vaccinated only referred to those who had received the primary series of two doses

“Hindi muna natin pupuntahan ‘yung redefinition. Pinag-aaralan pa rin pong maigi 'yan (We will not redefine it yet as it is still being studied carefully)," DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier said.

“One thing I can tell you would be whether it is redefined or not, as long as we will implement in a whole of society approach, I think we can be able to improve this coverage in the coming months,” she added.

The number of boosted individuals also increased to more than 20 million while at least 6.9 million senior citizens or 79.35% of the target A2 population have also received their primary vaccine series, it added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News