PH’s active cases top 51,000-mark with 6,100 new infections

FILE PHOTO: A man spits in a small container using straw so his saliva can be collected and tested for the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, at the Philippine Red Cross headquarters in Port Area, Manila, on January 26, 2021. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — Total active COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 51,912 on Thursday as the Department of Health (DOH) reports 6,100 new coronavirus infections.

Thursday’s cases brought the country’s active infections to over 50,000 again. As of Wednesday, there were only 49,951 active cases in the country.

The new cases also pushed the running total of confirmed cases in the country to 1,165,155.

The DOH said active cases represent only 4.5 percent of this figure. Of the active cases, 95.2 percent are mild and asymptomatic.

According to DOH, an additional 4,071 recoveries pushed the number of patients who have survived the disease to 1,093,602, or 93.9 percent of the overall count.

Meanwhile, another 135 patients have died, raising the number of fatalities to 19,641, or 1.69 percent of the tally.

The DOH said 12.6 percent of the 49,220 individuals who were tested were found positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

All laboratories were operational on Tuesday while three laboratories were not able to submit their results. Based on data in the last 14 days, the three non-reporting labs contribute, on average, 0.8 percent of samples tested and 2.1 percent of COVID-19 positive individuals.

Sixteen duplicates were removed from the case count, according to the health agency. These include 11 recoveries and one death. Seventy-one cases that were initially tagged as recoveries were also reclassified as deaths after validation.

EDV