The regions with the highest number of new cases during that period were Calabarzon (2,101 or 12%), Metro Manila (2,073 or 12%), and Davao Region (2,011 or 11%).
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 28) — The Department of Health (DOH) logged 18,638 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the nationwide tally to over 3.5 million.
The total number of cases is now at 3,511,491 with 6.6% or 231,658 active cases or currently ill patients. Of the active cases, 219,811 have mild symptoms; 7,055 have no symptoms; 2,971 are in moderate condition; 1,509 have severe symptoms; and 312 are in critical condition.
The death toll climbed to 53,801—1.53% of all infections—after 68 more people lost their lives. Among the 68 deaths, 59 (87%) occurred this month, and nine last year: four in September, one in August, two in May, and one each in April and March.
Meanwhile, 13,106 others got well, raising the recovery count to 3,226,032 or 91.9% of the COVID-19 tally.
The DOH said it reclassified 22 survivors as among the dead after validation, and deleted 594 duplicate cases, including 242 recoveries and three deaths.
Four laboratories did not submit data and were excluded from the total, the DOH added. These laboratories contributed an average of 0.8% of tested samples and 0.9% of positive individuals in the last 14 days.
Of the new infections, 7,625 (97%) occurred in the past 14 days, or from Jan. 14 to 27.
The belated reporting is due to late encoding of information to the data storage COVIDKaya system, the DOH explained.
The positivity rate, or percentage of tested people with positive results, further dropped to 34.6% based on 62,671 tests reported on Jan. 26.
The percentage is the lowest since Jan. 5 when the figure was slightly above 31%.
However, the World Health Organization recommends a positivity rate of below 5% for countries or regions to reopen.
