MANILA, Philippines — Only 12 to 15 percent of COVID-19 patients admitted in hospitals have severe and critical cases of coronavirus infection, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.
DOH data as of February 20 showed that of the 10,459 patients in hospitals, 1,151 or 11.35 percent are tagged as severe, while 450 or 4.84 percent are critical cases.
“Kasabay ng patuloy na pagbaba ng mga kaso ng COVID-19 ang pagbaba ng bilang ng severe and critical cases na na-o-ospital… Batay sa aming latest data, labing-dalawa hanggang labing-limang porsyento na lamang ng national hospital admissions ang malubha at kritikal,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a Palace press briefing.
(Along with the continued decrease of COVID-19 cases in the country is the decrease in the number of severe and critical cases being hospitalized… Based on our latest data, only 12 to 15 percent of our national hospital admissions are severe and critical cases.)
Meanwhile, 1,724 or 16.24 percent of hospitalized patients are asymptomatic, 3,253 or 31.28 percent are mild, and 3,881 or 36.29 percent are moderate cases, the DOH data showed.
Vergeire said the decrease in the number of severe and critical cases is proof that COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing the progression of the disease.
She also said that among the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns, the Omicron variant registered the highest number of single-day increases in new cases but also the lowest proportion of severe and critical cases.
Based on DOH data, only 65 or 1.57 percent out of 4,149 sequenced Omicron cases during the surge from December 30, 2021, to February 9, 2022, are severe and critical. Meanwhile, Delta recorded the highest proportion of severe and critical cases at 671 or 8.76 percent out of 7,656 sequenced cases from July 27 to December 29, 2021.
The Philippines currently has 58,657 active cases of COVID-19, including 1,427 new cases on Monday.
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