Philippines posts 144 new COVID-19 infections; active cases at 9,117

The Philippines reported 144 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday to mark the fifth straight day that the country has recorded over 100 new infections a day, data released by the Department of Health (DOH) revealed.

The latest report reflects an increase from the 144 cases recorded on Saturday, bringing the country’s active caseload to 9,117. According to GMA Integrated News Research, this is the fourth straight day of the country's active cases exceeding 9,000.

There were more new cases reported than recoveries, as total recoveries rose by 92 to 4,002,577 from 4,002,485.

Eight deaths were recorded to bring the total fatalities up to 66,210 from 66,202, marking the third straight day that the country had fewer than 10 new deaths.

In terms of regions, Metro Manila had the biggest number of cases in the past two weeks with 463, followed by Davao with 253, Calabarzon with 200, Soccsksargen with 163, and Northern Mindanao with 110.

Broken down in terms of cities and provinces, the most cases were in Davao Del Sur with 161, Quezon City with 103, Manila City with 88, South Cotabato with 86, and Rizal with 73.

The country recorded a bed occupancy rate of 16.4% as of Friday, March 10, with 4,059 out of the 24,741 beds across 1,884 facilities occupied.

Latest government data show that there were 181,137,103 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered as of March 9, 2023, consisting of 76,593,692 first doses; 79,812,930 complete doses; and 24,730,481 booster doses. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA Integrated News