Highest since 2020: PH logs 18,332 new COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has recorded its highest daily count of 18,332 COVID-19 cases ever since the pandemic hit the country in 2020, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Monday.

This drove nationwide active infections past the 130,000-mark and total confirmed coronavirus cases to 1,857,646 as of August 23.

According to the health agency, the 18,332 cases is 24.9 percent of the 58,471 individuals who got tested for SARS-COV-2 last Saturday, August 21. The DOH generally releases new daily tallies based on laboratory test results it received a day before.

Of the 130, 350 active infections, 94.8 percent are mild, 2.5 percent are asymptomatic, 0.92 percent are moderate, 1.2 percent are severe, and 0.6 percent are in critical condition.

The DOH likewise reported Monday the recovery of 13,794 COVID-19 patients recoveries, bringing the total number of people who survived the disease to 1,695,335. Also, it said sum fatalities reached 31, 961 after 151 people sickened by the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus have died.

Despite the record-high count of new infections, the DOH said that three laboratories were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System on time.

“Based on data in the last 14 days, the 3 non-reporting labs contribute, on average, 0.2% of samples tested and 0.5% of positive individuals,” it noted.

Moreover, the DOH reported the removal of 321 duplicates from the government data. This number includes 316 cases of recoveries.

Earlier this month, the health agency revealed that the COVID-19 Delta variant has been detected in all cities and a municipality of Metro Manila.

The DOH data likewise show that detection of COVID-19 Delta variant was also increasing in other areas outside of the National Capital Region.

The COVID-19 Delta variant is said to be the cause of the recent increases in coronavirus infections as it is known to be the more transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

Metro Manila has just undergone a reimposed enhanced community quarantine or ECQ and currently, it is under modified ECQ until August 31.

The return of Metro Manila to the strictest forms of lockdown was due to threats of the COVID-19 Delta variant.

According to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker, the coronavirus has now infected 211,850,238 and killed 4,431,569.

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