DOH posts 1,944 new COVID-19 cases over Holy Week

The number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in the Philippines in the past week reached nearly 2,000, according to the Department of Health’s (DOH) data on Monday.

There were 1,944 infections reported from April 3 to April 9, 2023, more than the 1,721 cases from March 27 to April 2.

Recent daily case average also went up by 13% from the previous 246 to 278.

179 new cases on Monday

The DOH also recorded 179 new cases on Monday, bringing the country's overall total to 4,083,842.

There were also 9,395 active cases as of Monday, down by 98 cases from Sunday's total.

Recoveries rose by 257 cases to 4,008,022, while deaths increased by five to 66,425. 

The region with the most new COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks is Metro Manila with 1,074 cases, followed by Davao Region with 375, Calabarzon with 335, northern Mindanao with 316, and Central Visayas with 176.

Among cities and provinces, Davao City recorded the most new COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks with 282, followed by Quezon City with 226, City of Manila with 175, Cagayan De Oro City with 133, and Cavite province with 128.

COVID-19 bed occupancy is at 15.0%, with 3,563 beds occupied and 20,128 vacant.

Still insignificant

Last week, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the increasing number of new COVID-19 cases in the country was still insignificant as hospital utilization remained low and manageable.

DOH’s data also showed 30 additional verified COVID-19-related deaths were belatedly logged from September 2020 to December 2022.

Of these deaths, one occurred in December 2022, three in January 2022, one in December 2021, four in November 2021, one in October 2021, four in September 2021, three in August 2021, two in July 2021, two in June 2021, two in May 2021, three in April 2021, three in March 2021, and one in September 2020.

As for vaccination, the agency said it would not be able to generate the latest numbers “due to ongoing migration of the Vaccine Information Management System (VIMS) by the DICT.”

As of March 19, 78.4 million Filipinos were already fully vaccinated against COVID-19, covering 100.4% of the government’s target population.

At least 7.1 million senior citizens, or 82.16% of the target A2 population have also received their primary vaccine series.

Meanwhile, 23.8 million individuals have received their booster shots.

DOH’s recent data also showed that 378 severe and critical cases were admitted in hospitals due to COVID-19 as of April 9. This was 10.2% of the total COVID-19 admissions.

Seventeen of these patients were tagged as a new severe or critical case in the recent week.

At least 301 or 14.8% of the 2,038 intensive care unit (ICU) beds were also used, while 2,699 or 16.5% of the 16,369 non-ICU COVID-19 beds were occupied. — BM, GMA Integrated News