PH logs 255 new COVID-19 deaths; death toll now at 36,583

(FILE) Workers are finding themselves busier than ever at New Life Crematorium in Biñan City in Laguna, where families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 have to wait for at least two days to secure a slot. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday reported 255 new COVID-19 deaths that brought the country’s total death toll to 36,583.

The reported deaths comprise 1.56 percent of all cases, according to the DOH.

The DOH also reported 23,134 new COVID-19 cases that brought the total number of cases in the country to 2,347,550.

This is the second-highest number of reported daily infections only behind the 26,303 cases reported on September 11.

Of the total cases, 184,088 or 7.8 percent of all cases are classified as active cases with most of the patients having mild or no symptoms at 95.5 percent.

The total number of recoveries is now at 2,126,879 or 90.6 percent of all reported infections after 27,024 recoveries were reported.

“Moreover, 143 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the DOH also noted.

The Philippines is only behind Indonesia in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia with 4,185,144 cases, according to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19.

Indonesia also leads the death tally in the region with 140,138 deaths, according to the tracker.

As of posting, the COVID-19 global case count is now at 227.6 million including 4.67 million deaths, according to the tracker.

/MUF