Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 19) — New COVID-19 cases dipped below 20,000 for the first time in three days, with the Department of Health reporting 19,271 additional cases on Sunday.
In its latest bulletin, the DOH said the national total is now at 2,366,749, with the number of active cases falling slightly to 7.5%, or 178,196.
Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 36,788 — 1.55% of the case count — with 205 more people dying from the disease.
The DOH recorded 25,037 more recoveries, raising the total number of survivors to 2,151,765, or 90.9% of the COVID-19 count.
The DOH said 72 duplicates were removed from the total case count, where 57 cases were deemed recoveries. Ninety-four cases previously tagged as recoveries, however, were reclassified as deaths after final validation.
The country’s positivity rate also dropped slightly to 25.1%. This number was based on reports from Sept. 17 where 70,571 tests were done.
A rate of above 20% is considered at critical level while a rate of below 3% indicates there is adequate testing, according to the U.S. nonprofit Covid Act Now.
The DOH said all laboratories were operational on Sept. 17, but two laboratories were unable to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS). These laboratories contributed an average of 0.7% of tested samples and 0.9% of positive individuals in the last 14 days.
The agency also said cases could still rise in the following days and advised the public to continue observing minimum public health standards and the effective implementation of Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) strategies. It urged everyone to get vaccinated to stem the spread of the virus.
