DOH reports 171 COVID-19 deaths but says only 6 occurred in December

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday 171 more COVID-19 related deaths but said that only six of these were from December.

According to the latest case bulletin from the DOH, the 171 deaths brought the country’s total fatalities due to COVID-19 complications to 49,761, which compose 1.75 percent of all the 2,835,593 confirmed cases.

“Of the 171 reported deaths, only 6 occurred in December 2021. 19% of the reported deaths today occurred in November 2021 due to the late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya. This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date,” the DOH said.

Based on the reporting date, the DOH has already confirmed a total of 1,271 deaths this December, for an average of 152 deaths being reported per day. These figures, however, include fatalities from the previous months due to the late encoding of information on these deaths.

The country still has 12,510 active cases of COVID-19. Of the active infections, 46.8 percent are either mild or asymptomatic. In numbers, 883 patients are asymptomatic, 4,974 are experiencing mild symptoms, 3,916 have moderate infections, 2,261 are under severe status, and 476 are under critical condition.

Twenty-four percent of intensive care unit and isolation beds and 13 percent of ward beds are currently being used, according to DOH.

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