DOH logs 3,458 new COVID-19 cases from Dec. 26, 2022–Jan. 1, 2023

The Philippines recorded 3,458 new COVID-19 infections from December 26, 2022, to January 1, 2023, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday.

According to the DOH's latest bulletin, the number of cases logged over the past week was 39% lower than the 5,690 cases recorded from December 19 to December 25.

The daily case average for the recent week likewise decreased to 494 from the previous 813.

The past week is the ninth week with fewer than 10,000 weekly cases.

Latest data from the DOH also showed a total of 164 additional verified COVID-19-related deaths were belatedly recorded by the agency. These deaths were registered from August 2020 to December 2022.

Of the figures, 32 fatalities occurred between December 12 to December 25 alone.

“Of the 164 deaths, 45 occurred in December 2022, 4 in November 2022, 2 in March 2022, 11 in February 2022, 11 in January 2022, 5 in November 2021, 10 in October 2021, 22 in September 2021, 18 in August 2021, 5 in July 2021, 6 in June 2021, 4 in May 2021, 10 in April 2021, 7 in March 2021, 1 in February 2021, 1 in October 2020, 1 in September 2020, and 1 in August 2020,” the DOH said.

Meanwhile, the DOH also said that the severe and critical cases admitted in hospitals due to COVID-19 declined to 433 as of January 3. This was 16.2% of the total COVID-19 admissions, according to DOH.

Of the new cases recorded from December 26, 2022, to January 1, 2023, three individuals were tagged as new severe or critical cases.

Of the 2,155 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 350 or 16.2% were occupied. Meanwhile, 3,110 or 16.9% of the 18,412 non-ICU COVID-19 beds were in use.

Hospitals, vaccination updates

Further, at least 73.7 million Filipinos or 94.46% of the government’s target population are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to DOH.

The number of boosted individuals also increased to 21 million, it added.

Meanwhile, at least 6.9 million senior citizens, or 79.45% of the target A2 population have also received their primary vaccine series. — Sundy Locus/BM, GMA Integrated News