PH tallies 5,867 new COVID-19 infections as active cases reach all-time high
The country listed 5,867 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, pushing the total number to 677,653, the Department of Health’s case bulletin said.
The new case count broke the country’s four-day streak of over 7,000 new cases per day. However, the DOH noted that the total does not yet include data from nine testing laboratories that have yet to send in their reports.
Meanwhile, the number of active cases or currently ill patients reached an all-time high of 86,200, which is 12.7% of the COVID-19 total. It surpassed the Aug. 15 record of over 83,000 active infections. Of these active cases, at least 95.4% have mild symptoms, 2.3% have no symptoms, 0.9% are in critical condition, 0.9% are severe cases and 0.49% are in moderate condition, the bulletin stated.
The DOH also posted a positivity rate of 15.4%, based on data as of noon of March 22. Positivity rate is the percentage of individuals that tested positive out of all patients tested that day. The figure is considered high since the recommended rate of the World Health Organization is 5%. A higher percentage suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with the coronavirus in the community who have not been tested yet, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The department said there were 33,719 that have been tested which means approximately 5,193 people were found positive. The DOH did not include the exact number of positive tests in the latest report, unlike in previous bulletins. The department will post an updated positivity rate once it gets the remaining data from the laboratories.
The death toll also climbed to 12,992 or 1.92% of the case count, after 20 more patients died. Meanwhile, 620 others got better, bringing the recovery count to 578,461 or 85.4% of the number of infections.
The DOH said it reclassified eight survivors as fatalities after validation and removed six duplicates, including one recovery.
The department also posted the updated positivity rate for March 21 at 15.4%, making it the fifth consecutive day that the country had a rate of above 15%. The DOH noted 6,039 positive individuals out of 31,163 tests.
Among Filipinos abroad, the number of infections surpassed 16,000 after the Department of Foreign Affairs recorded 21 more infections. The total is now 16,006 in 89 countries with 3,821 cases verified by the DOH, the DFA said. The death toll remained at 1,047 while the survivor count rose to 9,702 after two cases recuperated. There are also 5,257 patients undergoing treatment.
