Philippines logs 8,361 new COVID-19 infections; active cases down to 126,227

The Department of Health on Sunday reported 8,361 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country's case count to 3,609,568 as two laboratories failed to submit data on time.

The new infections brought the active cases to 126,227, of which 4,864 were asymptomatic; 116,598 were mild; 1,447 were severe; 310 were in critical condition.

Of the cases reported on Sunday, the DOH said 6,568, or 79%, occurred within the recent 14 days from January 24 to February 6.

The top regions with cases in the last two weeks were the National Capital Region with 863 or 13%, Region 11 with 683 or 10%, and Region 6 with 657 or 10%.

Total recoveries also climbed to 3,428,815 after 18,431 more patients recovered from the illness.

The death toll rose to 54,526 with 312 new fatalities.

Of the 312 deaths, the DOH said 77 occurred in February, 56 in January 2022, seven in December 2021, 15 in November 2021, 31 in October 2021, 40 in September 2021, 42 in August 2021, 22 in July 2021, five in June 2021, six in May 2021, five in April 2021, four in February 2021, and one each in November and August 2020 due to the late encoding of death information to its system.

Meanwhile, the country's positivity rate was at 21.5%. The total conducted COVID-19 tests were 38,675.

The DOH noted that 264 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 243 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

The latest data from the DOH also showed that 42% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are utilized, while 22% of the mechanical ventilators are also in use.

In Metro Manila, 35% of the ICU beds are utilized, while 20% of the ventilators are in use. — DVM, GMA News