DOH reports 1,534 new COVID-19 cases; active caseload tally further drops

(FLE) SWABBING CENTER Female coast guards in full protective gear on Tuesday prepare to man 66 testing booths at Palacio de Maynila, an events venue on Roxas Boulevard that has been converted into a temporary swabbing center to expand the government’s testing capacity for the new coronavirus. The Department of Health aims to conduct 30,000 tests a day by the end of May. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has infected another 1,534 individuals, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

The fresh COVID-19 cases were higher than Tuesday’s 1,019 cases. However, the DOH earlier explained that the infections reported on Tuesday were lower due to lower laboratory output during the weekend.

According to DOH, the new cases and the additional 2,729 recoveries and 201 deaths placed the country’s current active caseload to 55,449, lower than Tuesday’s 56,668 active infections.

Of the active cases, 91.8 percent are either mild or asymptomatic. A total of 652 are asymptomatic, 50,258 are mild, 2,811 are moderate, 1,426 are severe, and 302 are critical.

The country has so far confirmed 3,655,709 cases of COVID-19, of which 3,544,283 have recovered and 55,977 have died.

The positivity rate was at 6.1 percent, out of 24,527 individuals who got tested for COVID-19 on Monday.

Twenty-nine percent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 25 percent of isolation beds, and 18 percent of ward beds nationwide for COVID-19 patients are currently occupied. In Metro Manila, 25 percent of ICU beds 24 percent of isolation beds, and 25 percent of ward beds are in use.

All testing laboratories were operational on Monday. Only two laboratories were not able to submit their data on time, according to the health department.

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