COVID-19 test kits. (INQUIRER.net file photo)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) continued to report fewer than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases for the fifth straight day in its latest bulletin on Saturday.
There was a very slight increase in new cases at 3,792, which was only four cases more than Friday’s 3,788. This brought the total caseload since the pandemic began to 3,634,368.
Metro Manila had the most number of new infections at 520, followed by Western Visayas at 397 and the Davao Region at 328.
Active cases were at 84,229 — 6,918 less than Friday’s 91,147 and the lowest since the 77,369 on Jan. 7.
After falling below 10,000 in mid-December 2021, active cases breached the 100,000 level on Jan. 8 with 102,017 cases, then the 200,000 level in just four days with 208,164 on Jan. 12.
But current infections have been on the decline this month, going below 100,000 since Feb. 9.
The majority, or 76,487, of the latest active cases were mild, 3,016 were asymptomatic, 2,971 were moderate, 1,443 were severe and 312 were critical.
There were 10,662 new recoveries, bringing total survivors to 3,634,368.
The death toll was at 54,930, with the addition of 76 new fatalities.
Fifty of those deaths were recorded this month, five in January and three last December, the DOH said.
The positivity rate was at 14.3 percent based on 32,067 tests conducted on Thursday.
This was almost half the 28.8 percent on Feb. 1, as the positivity rate continued to decrease this month after peaking at the 40-percent level in January, amid the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
—WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
RELATED STORIES
DOH logs 3,792 new COVID-19 cases; active infections drop to 84,229
Big crowds in campaign sorties a ‘cause of concern’ for DOH