DOH registers 312 new COVID-19 deaths; death toll at 54,526

Workers are finding themselves busier than ever at New Life Crematorium in Biñan City in Laguna, where families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 have to wait for at least two days to secure a slot. —RICHARD A. REYES (file photo)

MANILA, Philippines — An additional 312 individuals succumbed to COVID-19 complications, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Sunday, bringing the country’s death toll to 54,526.

This is the highest number of deaths the DOH has registered in a day since Oct. 30, 2021.

The DOH said 77 of these deaths happened in February, while the rest were backlogs including 56 in January, 7 in December last year, 15 in November, 31 in October, 40 in September, 42 in August, 22 in July, 5 in June, 6 in May, 5 in April, 4 in February, one in November 2020 and another one as far back as August of 2020.

The DOH said that the delays were still due to the late encoding of death information to DOH’s COVIDKaya.

Meanwhile, based on the DOH’s data, health care utilization rate continues to slightly decrease with ICU beds at 42 percent, isolation beds at 39 percent, ward beds likewise at 37 percent, and ventilators at 22 percent.

Same goes for Metro Manila specifically where only 35 percent of ICU beds, 31 percent of isolation beds, 33 percent of ward beds, and 20 percent of ventilators are currently in use.

As of writing, worldwide deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker, number 5,734,564, while infections are at 393,290,814.

/MUF