DOH reports 14,286 new COVID-19 cases amid lower testing output

(FILE) FULL CAPACITY The slowdown in the transmission of the virus is not enough reason to ease quarantine restrictions as
hospitals such as the San Juan De Dios Educational Foundation Inc. – Hospital in Pasay City remain full. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — Amid a decrease in coronavirus testing, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 14,286 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, which placed the country’s total active cases at 138,294.

The active cases compose 5.4 percent of the total 2,549,966 cases of the disease that was so far detected in the country since the pandemic started.

“Nationally, we saw a 10% decrease in tests done this week compared to the previous week, meanwhile decline is also more evident in NCR with a 14% decrease,” the DOH said in a statement.

“Note as well that the testing output today in NCR is lower than the 7-day moving average of tests done in the region. The DOH is investigating possible reasons for the decline in testing output and is in constant coordination with local government units,” the agency added.

The DOH said 8,268 more patients have recovered, raising the number of recoveries to 2,373,378, or 93.1 percent of all infections. There were also 130 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 38,294 or 1.50 percent of the tally.

According to the DOH, 22 percent of 62,369 individuals who were tested were found positive on Tuesday for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease.

Four testing laboratories, which contributed 0.2 percent of samples tested and 0.1 percent of positive individuals in the last 14 days, were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

The DOH, meanwhile, removed 52 duplicates, including 38 recoveries, from the total case count, while 81 cases that were earlier tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

While the daily number of cases was lower than the over 20,000 cases recorded in the previous weeks, the DOH earlier said it wants to be cautious in confirming if COVID-19 cases have really declined, considering the lower testing output and the still high number of patients in hospitals.

/MUF