NEW coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country were down to 168 yesterday, the lowest in 19 months, while deaths were also down to 10, according to the Department of Health.
The DOH, however, said the latest number of new infections did not include data from four non-operational laboratories and 20 others that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS) last December 19.
Based on data in the last 14 days, the DOH said the 24 laboratories normally account for 4.8 percent of the samples tested and 4.5 percent of positive individuals.
In its latest bulletin, the DOH said the 168 new cases were the lowest since May 22, 20200, when 163 new infections were reported.
Overall, the number of infections in the country rose to 2,837,719 while the death toll climbed to 50,794 for a case fatality rate of 1.79.
The positivity rate in the country stood at 0.9 percent out of the 22,964 tests conducted last December 19.
Active cases also dipped to 9,384 from 9,592 last Monday, with 3,406 moderate cases, 3,289 mild cases, 1,804 severe cases, 508 asymptomatic cases, and 377 critical cases.
Active cases account for 0.3 percent of COVID cases in the country.
The DOH also reported 372 more recoveries, raising the number of survivors to 2,777,541.
This means that 97.9 percent of COVID patients in the country have recovered.
