DOH reports 203 new COVID-19 infections; active cases down to 9,729
By GISELLE OMBAY, GMA News
Published December 19, 2021 4:08pm
The Department of Health (DOH) logged 203 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the country’s total tally to 2,837,577.
The new cases brought the country’s active case count to 9,729, of which 3,685 are mild, 485 are asymptomatic, 1,800 are severe, and 380 are in critical condition.
“The low case report is due to the suspension of the operations of 4 labs on December 17, 2021 and failure to submit data from 41 labs to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS) because of Typhoon Odette,” DOH said.
According to the DOH, only 0.8% of the 28,823 individuals tested were found positive for COVID-19 on December 17.
Total recoveries increased to 2,777,109 after 395 more patients defeated the viral disease.
The death toll climbed to 50,739 with 64 new fatalities.
The DOH said four laboratories were not operational on December 17, while 41 laboratories were not able to submit their data.
The latest data from the DOH also showed that 22% of the country’s intensive care unit beds were utilized, while 11% of the mechanical ventilators were in use.
In Metro Manila, 23% of the ICU beds were utilized, while 13% of the ventilators were in use.
The DOH noted that of the 203 reported cases on Sunday, 186 occurred within the last 14 days or from December 6 to 19.
“Of the 64 deaths, 2 occurred in December 2021, 18 in November 2021, 29 in October 2021, 10 in September 2021, 4 in August 2021, and 1 in April 2021 due to late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya. This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date,” the DOH added.
The DOH also noted that two duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, one is a recovery.
In addition, 179 cases were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count. These 179 are recoveries.
Meanwhile, 62 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation. — DVM, GMA News
