Death of 141 more COVID-19 patients push toll to 48,501

FILE PHOTO: Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (greenish brown) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (pink), also known as novel coronavirus, isolated from a patient sample. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/Handout via REUTERS.

MANILA, Philippines — An additional 141 Filipinos succumbed to COVID-19 complications, according to the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, raising the country’s total death count to 48,501.

Based on the DOH’s latest case bulletin, the tally of fatalities account for 1.71 percent of the total 2,832,375 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country since last year.

Active infections, on the other hand, decreased further to 16,289, the DOH noted, explaining that this was because more patients have recovered from the new coronavirus disease. The number of recovered patients stood at 2,767,585 after the government reported the recovery of 993 individuals on Monday.

The health agency also reported that the Philippines’ coronavirus positivity rate is currently at 2.1 percent, the lowest the country has recorded since it first went below the World Health Organization’s threshold of 5 percent — which indicates controlled transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — on November 10.

OCTA Research earlier predicted that if the present trend continues, the country could see below 500 daily new cases during the holiday season.

The country also continues to have a relatively low health care utilization rate, according to the DOH, enumerating that only 27 percent of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients, 25 percent of isolation beds, 16 percent of ward beds, and 17 percent of ventilators were being used as of its latest reporting.

In Metro Manila, the DOH said occupied ICU beds for COVID-19 patients were at 27 percent; isolation beds, 22 percent; and ward beds, 22 percent while the use of ventilators was at 19 percent.

KGA