COVID-19 cases slowly rising but mostly mild, says DOH

MANILA, Philippines — COVID-19 cases have been steadily increasing in the past month, but hospital bed utilization rates remain at low risk or below 50 percent at the national and regional levels, health authorities said.

The Department of Health (DOH) said there has been a “slow and small upward trend of COVID-19 admissions over the past week” though nearly 60 percent of the 2,487 total admitted patients were asymptomatic or mildly ill.

On the other hand, 666 patients are in severe or critical condition.

“Our latest projections are showing that these case increases may translate to a spike in total and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in October, if compliance with minimum public health standards continues to decline and booster rates remain low,” warned the DOH.

The past week saw 19,930 new COVID-19 cases confirmed by laboratory tests, averaging 2,487 cases per day, which is 30 percent higher than the previous week’s average of 2,190 cases.

The DOH belatedly reported 42 more COVID-19 deaths, while pointing out that no COVID-19 deaths occurred from July 11 to July 24.

The occupancy rate of COVID-19 ICU beds has increased to 21.7 percent from 18.3 percent last week, with 578 out of 2,664 ICU beds in use.

Meanwhile, the utilization rate for non-ICU beds has gone up to 26 percent from 23.8 percent, with 5,804 beds in use out of 22,331 beds allotted for COVID-19 patients.

The DOH said cases have been increasing across all age groups.

It again urged those eligible to avail of vaccines and booster doses “to continue building a strong wall of immunity against the virus.”

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