44 new COVID-19 fatalities bring death toll at 48,545 in PH — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday reported 44 new deaths, increasing the death toll in the country to 48,545.

This is the lowest recorded daily count of deaths in November, and since Oct. 29 where DOH also logged 44 deaths.

According to the DOH latest case bulletin, the death toll accounts for 1.71 percent of the total 2,832,734 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country since the virus first hit the country’s shores last year.

Active infections, on the other hand, decreased further to 15,800, after the number of recovered patients increased to 2,767,585 with 993 new recoveries.

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

The Philippines’ coronavirus positivity rate also remains at 2.1 percent, still, 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.

The country also continues to have a relatively low health care utilization rate, according to the DOH, with only 26 percent of ICU beds, 26 percent of isolation beds, 16 percent of ward beds, and 17 percent of ventilators currently in use.

As well as in Metro Manila where occupied ICU beds are currently at 25 percent, isolation beds at 23 percent, ward beds at 21 percent and 17 percent for ventilators.

Meanwhile, worldwide deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker, currently number 5,207,855, while infections are at 262,208,788.

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