THE Department of Health (DOH) reported 370 new cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country on Wednesday, December 8, 2021.

This brought the total confirmed infections in the Philippines to 2,835,593, as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The health department also reported 859 new recoveries that raised the total number of patients who have beaten the virus to 2,773,322 (97.8 percent) and brought the active cases down to 12,510 (0.4 percent) from Tuesday’s 13,026.

Of the active cases, 883 were asymptomatic, 4,974 were mild, 3,916 were moderate, 2,261 were severe and 476 were critical.

The country’s positivity rate remained low at 1.6 percent, based on the 28,942 samples tested last December 6.

The death toll increase to 49,761 (1.75 percent) with 171 new mortalities logged on Wednesday.

The DOH clarified, however, that of the 171 deaths, only six occurred in December 2021 and 19 percent in November 2021 due to late encoding of death information to CovidKaya.

“This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date,” it said in its case bulletin.

The DOH said two laboratories were not operational while five others were not able to submit their output last December 6.

These seven laboratories contributed on average 1.2 percent of the samples tested and 1.9 percent of individuals who tested positive for the virus.

The public was reminded anew to continue to follow the minimum public health standards to prevent coronavirus transmission.

“Agad rin na magpabakuna upang makakuha ng dagdag na proteksyon laban sa Covid-19,” said the DOH. (LMY)