The regions with the highest number of new cases during that period were Metro Manila (7,861 or 36%), Calabarzon (4,647 or 21%) and Central Luzon (2,049 or 9%).
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19) — The Department of Health (DOH) reported 22,958 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, pushing the nationwide tally to 3,293,635.
The number of active cases or people currently ill was at 270,728, which is 8.2% of the total. Of the active cases, 257,632 have mild symptoms, 8,335 have no symptoms, 2,970 are in moderate condition, 1,487 have severe symptoms, and 304 are in critical condition.
The death toll surpassed 53,000 and is now at 53,044 – which is 1.61% of the COVID-19 count – after 82 more people lost their lives to the disease. Of the 82 additional deaths, 56 occurred this month, while 26 occurred last year: eight in October, 15 in September, and one each in July, May and January.
Meanwhile, 36,611 others got better, raising the recovery count to 2,969,853 – which is 90.2% of total infections.
Six laboratories were unable to submit their data on time and were excluded from the count. These laboratories contributed an average of 1.5% of tested samples and 1.9% of positive individuals in the last 14 days.
Of the new cases reported, 21,691 (94%) occurred within the last 14 days or from January 6 to 19.
The belated reporting is due to delays in the encoding of information in the COVIDKaya data storage system, the DOH explained.
The DOH said it reclassified 32 survivors as among the dead after validation, and deleted 91 duplicates, including 64 recoveries.
The positivity rate is still high at 43.5% based on 62,531 tests reported on Jan. 17.
According to the World Health Organization, positivity rates should fall below 5% for countries to reopen.
