104 health workers die of COVID-19 — DOH data

(FILE) NO VACANCY Like many other hospitals in the country, the Ospital ng Muntinlupa in Muntinlupa City exceeded its bed capacity as early as Sunday last week. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 104 healthcare workers who contracted COVID-19 has died, according to data from the Department of Health (DOH).

Based on the latest DOH COVID-19 situation report, 24,284 healthcare workers have so far tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, as of September 13. The 104 deaths make up 0.4 percent of the total infected health workers.

Of the tally, 98.1 percent or 23,814 have already recovered and 1.4 percent or 366 are still infected.

Of the active cases, 221 are mild, 95 are asymptomatic, 20 are moderate, 21 are in severe condition, and nine are critical.

Some health workers have been holding a series of protests to demand the release of their delayed special risk allowances as they continue to man COVID-19 frontlines. The Department of Health added that some P14.3 billion worth of benefits for public and private health workers have been distributed as of September 3.

The country has 177,670 COVID-19 active cases as of Tuesday. New daily highs were being recorded in the recent days following the community spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2. The highest record was logged on Saturday with 26,303 additional infections.

The Philippines has recorded a total of 2.26 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started. Of this number, 2.05 million have already recovered and more than 35,000 have died.

/MUF