A RESIDENT receives a COVID vaccine booster shot at a health center in Manila on April 20 following the Department of Health’s go signal for a second booster jab to the general population. — PHILSTAR/EDD GUMBAN

DAILY coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the Philippines went up 31% in the past week to 1,773 from a week earlier, according to the Department of Health (DoH).  

The country posted 12,414 from May 8 to 14, the DoH said in a bulletin. There were 53 severe and critical cases.  

About 18.8% or 394 out of 2,093 of the country’s intensive care unit (ICU) beds for coronavirus patients were occupied, while 3,791 or 21.7% of 17,454 non-ICU beds were used.  

There were no deaths logged from May 1 to 14, the agency noted. 

The DoH said about 78 million of the population have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, with 23 million people receiving booster shots.  

As of May 14, the country logged 436 severe and critical cases, or 8.8% of total coronavirus admissions.  

The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this month declared the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a global health emergency. 

More than 2.7 million new cases and over 17,000 deaths were reported globally from April 10 to May 7, a decrease of 14% and 17%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days, the WHO said.    

As of May 7, more than 765 million cases and over 6.9 million deaths have been reported globally. John Victor D. Ordoñez