Philippines records 582 new COVID-19 cases; active tally at 10K

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday recorded 582 new COVID-19 cases bringing the nationwide tally to 2,837,464.

According to the DOH’s latest bulletin, active infections stood at 10,167 of which, 539 are asymptomatic, 4,015 are mild, 3,415 are moderate, 1,815 are severe, and 383 are in critical condition.

The DOH said at least 494 patients defeated the viral illness, pushing the total recoveries to 2,776,727.

The Philippines’ COVID-19 death toll climbed to 50,570, with 74 new reported fatalities.

Ngayong 4 PM, Disyembre 17, 2021, ang Department of Health ay nakapagtala ng 582 na karagdagang kaso ng COVID-19. Samantala ay mayroon namang naitalang 494 na gumaling at 74 na pumanaw.

Sa kabuuang bilang ng mga naitalang kaso sa bansa, 0.4% (10,167) ang aktibong kaso, pic.twitter.com/ywSkLupRs5

— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) December 17, 2021

The Health department said the country’s COVID-19 positivity rate was at 1%, with 33,545 conducted COVID-19 tests.

The latest data also showed that 22% of 3,600 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients nationwide are in use.

At least 12% of the 12,400 ward beds in the country were utilized, while 18% of the 3,700 ward beds in the National Capital Region (NCR) were in use.

Based on the report, the DOH said four laboratories were not operational since December 15, while there was one laboratory that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

DOH also reported eight duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, eight were recoveries.

In addition, 126 cases were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count. Of these, 125 are recoveries.

Meanwhile, at least 59 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.—LDF, GMA News