However, the department noted that the tally excludes data from five laboratories that failed to submit details on time, adding that one laboratory did not operate on April 26. The agency warned the public not to be complacent about the relatively lower numbers.
The daily positivity rate or rate of infected patients among those tested, rose to 18.1% out of 37,428 tests conducted as of noon of April 26. The rate exceeds the recommended rate of less than 5% of the World Health Organization, which means there are more cases that have yet to be detected and there is high transmission.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 28) — The country’s COVID-19 death toll surpassed 17,000 on Wednesday, after 115 more patients succumbed to the disease, the Department of Health said.
The DOH daily case bulletin counted 17,031 deaths in total, which is 1.67% of the total number of cases. The case count climbed to 1,020,495 with 6,895 new infections. It is the lowest in three weeks, after the April 7 tally of over 6,400 new cases.
Active cases or currently sick patients are at 67,769, or 6.6% of the case count. It is also the lowest in nearly six weeks. On March 18, there were more than 66,000 active cases. At least 94.9% of the ill patients have mild symptoms, 1.6% have no symptoms, 1.4% are in severe condition, 1.1% are in a critical state, and 0.95% are moderate cases.
The DOH said 59 of the newly added fatalities were mistakenly tagged as survivors in the previous report, while 18 duplicates were deleted, including 12 recoveries.
The recovery count is at 935,695, or about 91.7% of the COVID-19 total, after 10,739 more people were cleared of the virus.
Among Filipinos abroad, 31 more cases were recorded, raising the total to 18,301 in 94 countries, with 4,144 infections verified by the DOH, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Four more Filipinos died, raising the death toll to 1,145 while the survivor count stayed at 11,220. There are also 5,936 patients undergoing treatment.
Amid the lower figures, experts are wary that the country may lose its gains if Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, or NCR Plus, prematurely shift back to general community quarantine. The OCTA Research group urged the government to retain the modified enhanced community quarantine in these areas for one to two more weeks to decongest hospitals.
The team noted that areas outside NCR Plus are also experiencing an increase in cases, particularly in Batangas and Pampanga, as well as in the Cagayan Valley Region and parts of the Cordillera Region.
