MANILA, March 5 ------ The Philippines on Friday recorded 853 more COVID-19 cases, the lowest daily tally so far this year, data from the health department showed. The positivity rate was at 4.3 percent, based on samples of 25,496 individuals on March 2, Wednesday, according to the latest Department of Health (DOH) bulletin.
Of the newly reported cases, 784 or 92 percent occurred within the recent 14 days. Metro Manila (170 cases), Calabarzon (128 cases) and Central Visayas (94 cases) were the top regions with cases in the recent two weeks.
The number of fresh infections is the fourth time this year and the third straight day that the daily tally remained below 1,000 following 951 cases announced on Feb. 28, 866 cases on Wednesday, and 989 cases on Thursday, the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group said. It is also the lowest daily tally since Dec. 28, when 421 cases were reported, the research group added.
The Philippines has so far tallied a total of 3,665,747 cases, of which 50,230 or 1.4 percent remain active. This is the lowest number of active infections since Jan. 5, when 39,974 active cases were recorded, the ABS-CBN IRG said. Of those still battling the disease, 45,300 (90.19 percent) were mild cases, 2,773 (5.52 percent) were moderate cases, 1,411 (2.81 percent) were severe cases, 450 (0.90 percent) were asymptomatic, and 296 (0.59 percent) were critical cases.
COVID-related deaths increased by 232, resulting in a total of 56,770 fatalities. This is the third highest daily death toll this year, following 265 fatalities reported on Jan. 8, according to the ABS-CBN IRG.
There were 1,062 more recoveries, raising the total number of recuperations to 3,558,747. Eleven duplicates, including 5 recoveries, were removed from the total case count, while 219 cases previously tagged as recuperations were reclassified as deaths after final validation, the DOH said.
Two laboratories, which contribute on average 0.3 percent of samples tested and 0.3 percent of positive cases, were unable to submit their data, the DOH said. The intensive care unit (ICU) bed utilization rate in Metro Manila and nationwide was at 25 percent each.
After the implementation of Alert Level 1 in Metro Manila and 38 other areas, the DOH urged operators of public utility vehicles and local governments to prohibit overcapacity and overcrowding. “Mukhang bumalik po tayo doon sa pre-pandemic kung saan beyond 100 percent capacity po ang nakikita natin sa mga sasakyan na pampubliko. So gusto lang ho namin magpaalaala, lalong-lalo na sa mga operators, pati na rin po doon sa ating mga local government and ating mga ahensya ng gobyerno, na sana po let’s maintain yung 100 percent capacity,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo Thursday.
It is too early to declare victory over the pandemic as only 56 percent of the world’s population has been fully-jabbed against the disease, according to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus. “The only sustainable way out of the pandemic is to reach high vaccine coverage in all countries. We must now turn our attention to addressing the crucial question of how we turn vaccines into vaccinations, how we ensure all countries have enough tests, enough oxygen to treat patients, and enough PPE to keep health workers safe,” he said. The Philippines has so far fully vaccinated 63 million people, while 62 million others have received an initial dose and 10 million booster shots have been administered, according to government data.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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