DOH says 36 more die due to COVID, lowest since Aug 16; toll now at 39,660

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. (NIAID-RML via AP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday reported that 36 more died of COVID-19 complications, increasing the total number of coronavirus casualties to 39,660 since the pandemic hit the country last year.

The logged 36 additional fatalities – lowest since August 16 – were significantly lesser than the tally of deaths reported in the past few days which were consistently above 100. No death cases, however, were recorded on October 5 and 6 due to technical issues in the DOH’s repository of COVID-19 data called CovidKAYA.

“The 36 deaths reported reflecting the actual death counts based on today’s list. No backlogs nor technical issues were encountered in today’s extraction,” explained the DOH when asked whether the lower number of deaths meant another technical issue.

The total 39,660 death cases account for 1.48 percent of the total 2,674,814 confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide as of October 11.

Across the globe, the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker said the coronavirus has already killed 4,852,328 people.

Also on Monday, the DOH reported that 98,894 individuals in the Philippines are currently sick due to the coronavirus and that 2,536,260 has so far recovered from the viral illness.

The country was recently rated the worst in two global COVID-19 recovery rankings: Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking, where the Philippines was last among 53 countries, and Nikkei Asia’s Global Recovery Index, where the Philippines was graded lowest of 121 countries.

KGA