DOH records over 14K new COVID-19 cases from September 12-18

The Philippines recorded 14,707 new COVID-19 infections from September 12 to 18, 2022, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday.

Based on the agency’s case bulletin, the cases logged in the recent week were 4% lower compared to the 15,379 cases from September 5 to 11.

The daily case average for the recent week also slightly decreased to 2,101, from last week’s  2,197.

A total of 248 additional verified COVID-19-related deaths were, however, belatedly reported in the past week. These deaths were logged from July 2020 to September 2022.

Of the 248 deaths, 36 occurred in September 2022; 14 in August 2022; two in July 2022; 22 in June 2022; 28 in May 2022; two in March 2022; six in February 2022; 16 in January 2022; one in December 2021; seven in November 2021; 72 in October 2021; 14 in September 2021; eight in August 2021; three in June 2021; two in May 2021; four in April 2021; four in March 2021; three in February 2021; one in January 2021; one in November 2020; and two in July 2020.

Thirty-four of these fatalities also occurred between September 5 to September 18 alone.

Data also showed that 772 severe and critical cases were admitted in hospitals due to COVID-19 as of September 18. This was 10% of the total COVID-19 admissions, according to DOH.

Of the 2,638 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 637 or 24.1% were occupied. Meanwhile, 6,110 or 28.9% of the 21,150 non-ICU COVID-19 beds were in use.

Of the new cases recorded from September 12 to 18, there were seven individuals tagged as new severe or critical cases. DOH said this was only 0.05% of the new cases reported for the week.

Vaccination updates

Further, a total of 72,897,703 Filipinos or 93.34% of the government’s target population are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to DOH.

Of this number, 126,982 were vaccinated from September 12 to 18.

Meanwhile, at least 6.8 million senior citizens or 78.23% of the target A2 population have also received their primary vaccine series.

The DOH also said that 18,883,456 individuals have received their booster shots, of whom 331,413 were boosted in the same period. — RSJ, GMA News