COVID-19 cases still rising, no peak yet – DOH

Health workers attend to patients at the chapel of Quezon City General Hospital and Medical Center (QCGHMC) on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, as it converted the chapel into an intensive care unit (ICU) ward as a response to the increasing number of severe COVID-19 cases. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — While most Filipinos hope for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health (DOH) remained cautious in saying new cases in Metro Manila continued to rise and there was no evidence to suggest a downward trend.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told an online briefing on Saturday that the number of cases in Metro Manila even increased by about 8 percent in the last seven days.

The DOH reported 23,134 new cases on Saturday in addition to the 184,088 patients still infected with the new coronavirus.

The new cases brought the country’s total tally to 2,347,550 with 2,126,879 patients recovering from their infections, including the 27,024 new recoveries, the DOH said.

Of the new and active cases, 90.5 percent are mild, 5 percent asymptomatic, 0.6 percent critical, 1.3 percent severe and 2.5 percent moderate.

The DOH reported 255 new fatalities, raising the death toll to 36,583.

The positivity rate remains at 26 percent, meaning of the 73,635 persons tested on Thursday, more than one in four tested positive for the virus.

But OCTA Research claimed that the positivity rate in Metro Manila has decreased to 24 percent while the reproduction number—people infected by one positive case—went down from 1.34 the previous week to 1.22 last week.