PH logs new record high 13,177 new COVID-19 cases

COVID-19 test_positive. STOCK PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The country recorded 13,177 additional COVID-19 cases, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Friday, raising active infections to 96, 395.

According to the DOH, current active cases are 5.6 percent of the 1,713,302 confirmed cases of COVID-19 nationwide.

The DOH also said that recovered patients now total 1,587,069, including the additional 4,322 who recently survived the disease. But the passing of 299 more patients increased the country’s COVID-19 casualties to 29,838 as of August 13.

The 13,177 new coronavirus cases reported Friday are considered the second-highest daily count after the 15,310 new infections logged on April 2. The April 2 record, however, included 3,790 case backlogs.

Data from the health agency showed that 23.6 percent of the 57,355 patients who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 were found positive for the virus on Wednesday.

All laboratories were operational on Wednesday, the DOH noted, but four were not able to submit their data on time and thus, were not included in the Friday report. The four non-reporting labs contribute 2.1 percent of samples tested and 1.5 percent of positive individuals on average based on data in the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, 238 duplicates, including 229 recoveries, were removed from the total case count. Ten cases previously tagged as recoveries have been validated as active cases, while 175 cases counted as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

COVID-19 cases have been increasing in the previous weeks, with the DOH even saying that “new peaks” are now being recorded per week.

According to DOH data, the country’s COVID-19 cases increased by 30 percent in the previous week. It documented 10,459 average daily new cases from August 6 to 12, higher than the 7,987 average cases from July 30 to August 5.

The DOH has been urging local government units to implement “active case finding” of positive cases, especially as it assumes the country’s community transmission of the highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes serious respiratory illness COVID-19.

KGA