PH reports under 5,000 COVID infections for 10th straight day
THE PHILIPPINES reported less than 5,000 coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infections for the 10th straight day on Friday. The daily bulletin of the Department of Health (DoH) listed 2,232 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of infections since the pandemic started in 2020 to 3.6 million.
The death toll hit 55,409 after 79 more patients died, while the number of recoveries rose by 3,010 to 3.53 million, the DoH said in its bulletin.
It said 9.1% of 29,812 samples tested positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 16, way above the 5% threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
There were 65,796 active cases, 946 of which did not show symptoms, 60,252 of which were mild, 2,869 were moderate, 1,422 were severe, and 307 were critical.
The DoH said 95% of the latest cases occurred from Feb. 5 to 18. The top regions with new cases in the past two weeks were Metro Manila with 378, Calabarzon with 236, and Central Visayas with 212 infections. It added that 20% of new deaths occurred in February and 41% in January.
The agency said 100 duplicates had been removed from the tally, 95 of which were reclassified as recoveries, with 70 recoveries relisted as deaths. Five laboratories failed to submit data on Feb. 16.
It said 31% of intensive care unit beds in the country are being used, while the rate for Metro Manila is 32%. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan
