Covid-19 cases in Philippines soar to 1,600

FOR the first time in more than a month, over 1,000 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases were reported by the Department of Health (DOH).

In its December 30 bulletin, the DOH said 1,623 new Covid-19 cases were added to the tally, raising the total caseload to 2,841,260.

The last time the country saw more than 1,000 cases was in November 23, when there were 1,153 new infections.

Thursday’s (December 30) positivity rate in the Philippines stood at 6.6 percent, based on the 30,933 samples tested last December 28.

The DOH also reported 133 additional deaths that raised the death toll to 51,373.

The case fatality rate in the country stood at 1.81 percent.

Aside from the new cases and deaths, the health department also reported 256 additional recoveries, bringing the number of people who have recovered from the disease to 2,778,115.

The DOH said the recovery rate stood at 97.8 percent.

Less deaths and recoveries, the country now has 11,772 active Covid-19 cases, of which 577 were considered asymptomatic, 5,737 mild, 3,315 moderate, 1,771 severe and 372 critical.

The DOH said two laboratories were not operational, while three others were not able to submit their output last December 28. These laboratories contributed on average 0.1 percent of all samples tested and 0.0 percent of all individuals who tested positive for the virus. (HDT/LMY/SunStar Philippines)