PH logs 4,496 new COVID-19 infections

MANILA, Phillippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said it recorded 4,496 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total number of cases in the country to 2,731,735 cases.

Tuesday’s new case count is the lowest since July 28, when there were 4,478 new infections. But in its daily case bulletin, the DOH said the relatively low cases was due to lower laboratory output on Sunday.

Earlier, the DOH admitted that the amount of RT-PCR testing being done in the country’s accredited laboratories has gone down and that the department is investigating if it is being fueled by the more widespread use of rapid antigen tests.

Meanwhile, the DOH reported 63,637 active cases or currently sick individuals. Of this number, the majority or 79 percent are mild cases, 5.2 percent asymptomatic, 2 percent critical, 4.8 percent severe, and 8.9 percent moderate.

The DOH also said 9,609 patients had recovered, bringing the total number of survivors to 2,627,126. But another 211 have also died, raising the death toll to 40,972.

The positivity rate also continues to go down from a high of almost 30 percent during the last surge. The DOH said 12.4 percent of the 35,766 tests conducted on Sunday turned out to be positive.

Seven labs also failed to send their data on time, while 47 duplicate cases were removed from the total case count. Another 145 cases previously tagged as recoveries were also reclassified as deaths following final validation. INQ