PH’s COVID-19 death toll now at 47,875 as 193 more die

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) said Thursday that another 193 patients have died due to COVID-19 complications, raising the total number of fatalities to 47,875.

For this month, the DOH has so far reported a total of 4,661 death cases which means that an average of 186 deaths was logged per day in November. However, the health agency earlier explained that deaths in its daily COVID-19 updates include patients who passed away in the previous months.

The current sum of death cases accounts for 1.69 percent of the total 2,829,618 confirmed cases of the dreaded viral disease in the Philippines since 2020.

As of Thursday, 17,796 individuals across the country remain sick due to COVID-19 including the 975 new infections.

Of the currently active cases, 52.7 percent are mild, 5.4 percent are asymptomatic, 21.49 percent are moderate, 14.4 percent are severe, and 6 percent are critical.

But the DOH data showed that the percentage of severe and critical cases that are at higher risk for death was double the figures from the start of November. As of November 1, there were only 7.2 percent severe and 3 percent critical cases, while the number of mild cases was higher at 72.6 percent, and asymptomatic and moderate cases were at 4.9 percent and 12.32 percent, respectively.

In a media briefing, the DOH explained that the increase in the percentage of severe and critical cases of COVID-19 is just a result of delayed validation on the status of patients and the lower number of active infections.

Health authorities are reminding the public, even vaccinated individuals, to still practice health protocols against the spread of coronavirus to sustain the current trends and prevent another surge of infections.

KGA