COVID-19 hits 28,007 more in PH; active cases soar to 181,016

MANILA, Philippines — Confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide reached 3,026,473 as the Department of Health (DOH) reported Tuesday the infection of 28,007 more people, increasing active COVID-19 cases to 181,016.

The recorded 28,007 new COVID-19 cases are lower than the 33,169 fresh cases reported on Monday, but it was gathered from a lower number of tests.

The DOH reported on Tuesday a positivity rate of 44.5 percent out of 58,409 individuals who got tested for coronavirus on Sunday, January 9. The 46 percent positivity rate reported on Monday, however, was from 73,234 tests conducted on Saturday, January 8.

According to the health agency, 99 percent of the 28,007 new COVID-19 cases occurred in the last 14 days, and that the top regions with the most cases in the last two weeks were Metro Manila, which recorded 15,256 fresh infections (55 percent); Calabarzon with 5,861 (21 percent); and Central Luzon with 3,064 (11 percent) new cases.

The DOH also reported on Tuesday the recovery of 4,471 coronavirus patients and the death of 219 more. With these, total recoveries and deaths stood at 2,792,946 and 52,511, respectively, as of the January 11 report.

Of the current 181,016 active cases, the government said three percent were asymptomatic, 94 percent were mild, 1.58 percent were moderate, 0.80 percent were severe, and 0.16 were critical.

As for the hospital bed utilization rate nationwide, the DOH said 41 percent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 44 percent of isolation beds, and 41 percent of COVID-19 ward beds have been occupied. In Metro Manila, 54 percent of ICU beds, 60 percent of isolation beds, and 64 percent of ward beds were in use, it added.

The DOH further reported the removal of 64 duplicates from the total COVID-19 case count. It also said that a total of 184 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

All testing laboratories were operational on Sunday. But the DOH said 12 laboratories were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System. These laboratories, it explained, contributed an average of 4.2 percent of samples tested and 5.5 percent of positive individuals in the last 14 days.

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