New COVID-19 cases top 8,000-mark again; active cases now at 66,895

FILE Vials of blood depicting a positive finding for coronavirus.

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s COVID-19 active cases reached 66,895 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported Thursday that 8,127 more people contracted the disease.

These fresh cases increased the nationwide case count to 1,627,816, as it was also the fifth time that new cases surpassed 8,000 since July 30.

New COVID-19 cases hit beyond 8,000 from July 30 until August 2, then decreased to more than 6,800 on August 3, and 7,300 on August 4. The DOH has noted different numbers of non-reporting laboratories in its case bulletins during the said dates.

Of the total confirmed coronavirus cases, 1,532,494 are recovered patients, including the additional 4,343 who managed to survive COVID-19. Some 196 patients, however, succumbed to the disease, according to DOH on Thursday, pushing the death toll to 28,427.

The DOH noted that 17.3 percent of 56,035 people who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 were found positive for the virus on Tuesday. SARS-CoV-2 causes the serious respiratory illness COVID-19.

The DOH also said one laboratory was not operational on Tuesday, while three laboratories were not able to submit their data on time. The four labs contribute 0.7 percent of samples tested and 1.8 percent of positive individuals on average in the last two weeks, it added.

Meanwhile, 135 duplicate entries, including 125 recoveries, were removed from the total case count. Fifteen cases initially tagged as recoveries were validated as active cases and 131 cases that were counted as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after validation.

Also on Thursday, the DOH reported 116 more cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant, increasing the tally to 331.

Metro Manila will be placed under enhanced community quarantine from August 6-20 as the government tries to prevent a possible spike in cases due to the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The Philippines has so far fully vaccinated 10 million Filipinos, still far from its target of 70 million in order to achieve herd immunity. Some 12 million people have been partially vaccinated or received one dose of a two-dose anti-COVID vaccine.

KGA