Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 16) – The number of Filipinos currently sick with COVID-19 hits a record high for a fifth straight day at over 287,000 after the Department of Health reported 37,154 new infections on Sunday.
Active cases have reached 287,856, which account for 9% of the country’s total case tally at 3,205,396.
The number of new cases recorded is also the third highest count since the pandemic struck. This is despite the non-submission of data of 12 testing laboratories, which contributed an average of 2.7% of all samples tested and 3.4% of all positive results in the last two weeks, the DOH said.
The positivity rate, meanwhile, is at its second highest at 47.4% based on over 81,000 tests reported on Jan. 14. This means nearly one in two people tested for COVID-19 is positive.
Metro Manila is the region with the most number of new cases with 15,591 infections, followed by Calabarzon with 8,384, and Central Luzon with 3,232.
The DOH also confirmed 30,037 more recoveries, bringing the total to 2,864,633.
The death toll, meanwhile, rose to 52,907 with 50 more fatalities. Of the new deaths, 30 occurred this month while the other 20 happened from June to November 2021 and were just encoded late.
After final validation, the DOH said 27 cases it previously declared as recoveries were reclassified as deaths. It also removed 137 duplicate entries from its data.
The DOH further noted that 273,924, or around 95%, of the active cases are mild. There are 1,475 severe cases (0.5%) and 305 critical cases (0.1%), while the rest are moderate (1%) and asymptomatic (3.2%).
