184 new deaths bring PH’s COVID-19 death count to 50,280

(FILE) Personnel in protective suits prepare to move a body inside the crematory chambers at a crematorium facility in Manila on April 29, 2020. (Photo by Maria TAN / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) added 184 deaths to the country’s total COVID-19 death count on Sunday, raising the death toll to 50,280.

However, the DOH clarified that only six of these deaths were recorded in December. Meanwhile, 35 deaths were recorded in November, 73 in October, 54 in September, 10 in August, 4 in July, 1 in June, and one in February.

The delays are due to the “late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya,” the DOH said in its case bulletin.

“This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date,” it added.

The current death toll accounts for 1.77 percent of the total 2,836,592 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country since the virus first reached the country last year.

Active infections, on the other hand, dropped further to 11,255 after the number of recovered patients increased to 2,775,857 with 509 new recoveries.

The Philippines’ coronavirus positivity rate also remains at 1.2 percent, still below the World Health Organization’s threshold of 5 percent — which indicates controlled transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — on November 10.

Relatively low health care utilization rate also continues to be recorded nationwide, according to the DOH, with only 23 percent of ICU beds, 23 percent of isolation beds, 13 percent of ward beds, and 13 percent of ventilators currently in use.

Meanwhile in Metro Manila specifically, occupied ICU beds are currently at 26 percent, isolation beds at 19 percent, ward beds at 18 percent, and 17 percent for ventilators.

Worldwide deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker, are at 5,301,833, while infections are at 269,748,379.

/MUF