MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported 3,651 new COVID-19 cases, the second straight day the tally stood at the 3,000 mark.
The DOH case bulletin said Western Visayas had the most number of cases (523), followed by the National Capital Region (484) and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) (414).
Three laboratories failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System, the DOH said.
The country’s positivity rate was 16.5 percent, slightly higher than the 16.3 percent recorded the previous day. This was based on 29,970 people tested on Monday.
The national caseload was now 3,623,176.
A total of 3,474, or 95 percent, of the new cases occurred in the last two weeks, from Jan. 27 to Feb. 9.
The DOH said there were 96,326 active cases. Of the total, 87,385 were mild, 4,150 asymptomatic, 3,029 moderate, 1,447 severe, and 315 critical.
The 12,834 recoveries brought the total number of survivors to 3,472,160.
69 more deaths
The 69 fatalities raised the death toll to 54,690, the DOH said. It said the 25 deaths occurred this month and the rest between March 2021 and January 2022 but reported only on Wednesday.
The DOH said the country is now at moderate risk case classification with all regions at low to moderate risk, except for Region 12 which is at high risk.
The total bed and intensive care utilization rates in all regions are currently in low to moderate risk, it added.
Guido David, a fellow with the independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research, has observed downward trends in COVID-19 indicators in several highly urbanized cities in Luzon and the Visayas, specifically Angeles, Baguio, Dagupan, Lucena, Naga, Olongapo, Puerto Princesa, and Santiago.
David noted that Baguio and Puerto Princesa were classified as high risk, while Angeles, Dagupan, Lucena, Naga, Olongapo, and Santiago remained at “moderate risk.”
In the Visayas, Bacolod, Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Ormoc and Tacloban cities have improved to moderate risk, while Iloilo City was downgraded to high risk, he added.
—TINA G. SANTOS
READ: Metro Manila now at low risk for COVID-19 transmission – OCTA