NEW coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country continued to decrease with 838 new infections yesterday but 156 more lost their battle against the deadly virus, according to the Department of Health.
In its latest advisory, the DOH said total infections rose to 2,831,807 while the death toll climbed to 48,361.
Last Saturday, the DOH reported 899 new cases, 188 deaths and 1,667 new recoveries while the figures last Friday stood at 863 new cases, 142 deaths and 791 recoveries.
Active cases also dipped by 0.6 percent to 16,630 compared to 17,052 last Saturday, with 54.9 percent mild to asymptomatic cases, 23.36 percent moderate cases, 6.5 percent critical and 15.2 percent severe cases.
The positivity rate stood at 2.4 percent of the 34,241 tested for the virus.
The DOH also reported 1,217 more recoveries, raising the number of survivors to 2,766,816.
The DOH said two laboratories failed to submit data last November 26.
“Based on data in the last 14 days, the two labs contribute, on average, 0.003 percent of samples tested and zero percent of positive individuals,” the DOH said.
The DOH also said that of the 1,300 ICU beds in the National Capital Region, only 27 percent are being utilized while the utilization rate of ventilators in Metro Manila stands at 20 percent.
Nationwide, the DOH said the utilization rate for ICU beds stood at 27 percent, 26 percent for isolation beds, 16 percent for ward beds and 16 percent for ventilators.
The Pasig government said active cases in the city have dropped to 42 by Saturday while 57,827 have recovered and 1,462 died. Mayor Vico Sotto said this was a big drop from the 2,451 active cases in the city last September 15. — With Christian Oineza
