Philippines logs 34,021 new COVID-19 cases, highest since pandemic began

The Department of Health on Thursday reported another record-high 34,021 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the Philippines' case load to 3,092,409.

This is the highest number of cases reported since the pandemic began in the country in March 2020. The previous highest daily case count was 33,169 on January 10.

Active infections rose to 237,387, of which 7,332 are asymptomatic; 225,408 are mild; 1,468 are severe; and 298 are in critical condition.

Of the cases reported today, the DOH said 33,456 or 98% occurred within the recent 14 days from December 31, 2021 to January 13, 2022.

Ngayong 4 PM, Enero 13, 2022, ang Department of Health ay nakapagtala ng 34,021 na karagdagang kaso ng COVID-19. Samantala ay mayroon namang naitalang 4,694 na gumaling at 82 na pumanaw.

Sa kabuuang bilang ng mga naitalang kaso sa bansa, 7.7% (237,387) ang aktibong kaso, pic.twitter.com/CtEcflmvPN

— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) January 13, 2022

The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region with 16,793 or 50%, Region IV-A with 7,131 or 21%, and Region III with 3,745 or 11%.

Total recoveries also climbed to 2,802,286 after 4,694 more patients recovered from the illness.

The death toll rose to 52,736 with 82 new fatalities.

Of the 82 deaths, the DOH said 37 occurred in January 2022, five in December 2021, two in November 2021, six in October 2021, 13 in September 2021, four in August 2021, two in July 2021, one in May 2021, seven in April 2021, two in March and January 2021, and one in April 2020. This was due to the late encoding of death information to its system.

Meanwhile, the country's positivity rate was at 47.9%. The total conducted COVID-19 tests were 78,866.

The DOH noted that 246 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 44 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational on January 11, while seven laboratories were not able to submit their data.

Latest data from the DOH also showed that 45% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are utilized, while 19% of the mechanical ventilators are also in use.

In Metro Manila, 58% of the ICU beds are utilized, while 26% of the ventilators are in use.—LDF, GMA News