Healthcare workers in Ilocos Sur get swab samples to test individuals for COVID-19. (Photo courtesy of Vigan city government)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday reported 582 new COVID-19 cases in the country, bringing the caseload to 2,837,464.
The DOH noted that of the 582 new reported cases, 315 or 54 percent were reported within the recent 14 days or from December 4 to December 17.
Of the total number of cases, only 10,167 or 0.4 percent are tagged as ‘active cases.’ Of these or 44.8 percent have mild or asymptomatic cases.
The total number of recoveries meanwhile is now at 2,776,727 or 97.9 percent of all cases after 494 new cases were reported.
There are also 74 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 50,570, which is 1.78 percent of all cases.
The DOH also removed eight duplicates from the total caseload, all of which are recoveries. There are also 126 cases — including 125 recoveries — that were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count. Moreover, 59 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.
Meanwhile, the global COVID-19 caseload is now at 272.9 million, including 5.3 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Case Tracker.