New COVID-19 infections jump to 1,623; active cases rise to 11,772

MANILA, Philippines — The number of new COVID-19 cases leaped to 1,623 on Thursday, increasing active infections in the country to 11,772 based on the latest report of the Department of Health (DOH).

The 1,623 new coronavirus infections – the highest number of new cases reported since November 21 – also indicated that the positivity rate rose to 6.6 percent, representing the number of people found positive for the virus from among the 30,933 tested. The latest positivity rate was also highest since November 4 and way above the 5 percent threshold of the World Health Organization for controlled transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

Of the new cases, the DOH said 97 percent or 1,582 occurred within the recent 14 days and that the National Capital Region (NCR) topped the list of regions with fresh infections at 1,063 or 67 percent in the recent two weeks. NCR is followed by Region 4-A with 173 (11 percent) and Region 3 with 101 (6 percent) new cases.

Active cases, meanwhile, consisted of 5,737 people with mild symptoms; 577, with no symptoms or asymptomatic; 3,315, with moderate symptoms; 1,771, with severe symptoms; and 372 people under critical status.

The DOH also reported that 256 more COVID-19 patients recovered from the disease while 133 others died.

To date, total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country stood at 2,841,260 while recovered patients now reached 2,778,115. The death toll was at 51,373 as of December 30.

The DOH said December 30 figures exclude data from two laboratories that were not operational when the tests were conducted on December 28 as well as information from three other laboratories that were not able to submit details on time to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

“Based on data in the last 14 days, the 5 labs contribute, on average, 0.1% of samples tested and 0% of positive individuals,” the DOH said.

The health agency likewise said 10 duplicates were removed from the total case count, six of which were recoveries.

The DOH also said it removed from the total case count the 143 cases – including 140 recoveries – that were found to have tested negative for COVID-19.

Moreover, the DOH said 126 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

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