FROM over 30,000 in the past six days, new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country dipped slightly to 28,471 yesterday while the death toll continued to climb to the grim mark of 53,000, according to the Department of Health.
In its latest bulletin, the DOH said total infections in the country climbed to 3,270,758 while the toll rose to 52,962, counting the 34 additional deaths yesterday, for a case fatality rate of 1.62 percent.
The DOH last reported less than 30,000 infections — 28,007 — on January 11.
The current positivity rate in the Philippines stood at 43.4 percent among the 51,738 tested samples on January 16.
Active cases also dipped to 284,458 from 290,938 last Monday, with over 270,000 mild cases and more than 8,900 asymptomatic cases.
The DOH also reported 34,892 additional, raising the number of survivors to 2,933,338.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año is now free of COVID-19 as of Monday, more than a week after he tested positive.
Año said he got the result of his RT-PCR test on Monday night.
“I am already okay, I already tested negative in the test,” said Año, who was asymptomatic.
“I will complete the exact days of isolation (before going out) just to be safe,” he said, adding he is due to complete his isolation period this Thursday.
Año has contracted the disease for the third time. He first tested positive in March 2020 and again in August 2020.
The number of overseas Filipinos infected with the deadly virus continued to climb with 82 more added to the list while four others died last week, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The DFA said 24,373 overseas Filipinos have been infected with the virus, with 13,179 of them in the Middle East and African regions, 6,470 in Asia and the Pacific, 3,651 in Europe and 1,073 in the Americas.
The death toll rose to 1,458, with the Middle East and African regions recording 929, followed by 264 in the Americas.
The Asia Pacific region had 135 deaths among Filipinos, with 130 more in Europe.
The DFA said it also recorded four new recoveries, bringing the number of survivors to 14,441, while 8, 474 are still undergoing treatment. — With Ashzel Hachero and Victor Reyes
