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MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 caseload went back to the 2,000 level after five days, based on the COVID-19 Tracker of the Department of Health (DOH).
On Friday, the country logged 2,001 new infections, slightly up from the 1,854 cases recorded the previous day. Daily cases had hovered around the 1,000 level for five straight days since Sunday last week.
This pushed the active COVID-19 cases to 16,314 and the total case tally to 4,131,790.
No new deaths were reported last week. The country’s death toll has reached 66,466 since the pandemic began three years ago.
Seventeen more cases of Omicron XBB.1.16, the latest COVID-19 variant to enter the country, had been reported in the latest biosurveillance report for the period May 15 to May 19. This brought the total cases of the highly transmissible strain to 28.
The DOH reminded the public to continue to use layers of protection against COVID-19 based on one’s risk to the virus as it blamed increased mobility for the gradual rise in infections.
“It is also important to note that there are many factors that can be attributed to an increase in cases,” the DOH said in a statement.
“However, as we have lowered our restrictions, individuals are now more mobile to which we may attribute our case increase,” it added.