COVID-19 test kits (NQUIRER.net file photo)
The Department of Health (DOH) recorded its lowest daily tally of new COVID-19 cases so far this year, reporting 853 on Friday.
It was the third consecutive day that the number of new infections fell below 1,000. The lowest count before this was 866, on March 2.
Friday’s cases were lower than Thursday’s 989 but did not include input from two laboratories that failed to submit data for the latest bulletin.
The country’s positivity rate was 4.3 percent, still below the World Health Organization’s recommended level of 5 percent, and slightly below the 4.5 percent reported the previous day. It was based on 25,496 people tested on March 2.
The National Capital Region remained the region with the most number of cases with 170, followed by Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) with 128, and Central Visayas with 94.
The national caseload now stood at 3,665,747.
A total of 784, or 92 percent, of the new cases occurred in the last two weeks, from February 19 to March 4. The DOH said there were still 50,230 active cases, of which 45,300 were mild, 450 asymptomatic, 2,773 moderate, 1,411 severe, and 296 critical.
The 1,062 recoveries brought the total number of survivors to 3,558,747.
New fatalities numbering 232 raised the death toll to 56,770. The DOH said only five deaths occurred this month, while the rest happened between July 2020 and February 2022 but were reported only on Friday.
It added that 219 cases previously listed as recoveries were classified as deaths after final validation.
COVID-19 intensive care beds in Metro Manila were 25-percent full (against 25 percent at the national level), isolation beds at 21 percent (22 percent nationwide), and ward beds at 24 percent (14 percent nationwide).
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