NEW cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) nationwide have stabilized at less than 6,000 a day for almost three weeks now, Department of Health (DOH) case bulletins showed.
Over the recent seven days from June 28 to July 4, daily cases averaged 5,500, around half of the 2021 peak on April 9 to 15.
The seven-day moving average fell below 6,000 in the week from June 16 to 22. It has stayed below 6,000 since then.
On Sunday, July 4, 2021, the DOH case bulletin reported 5,966 new cases, 86 additional mortalities and 6,987 new recoveries.
The new infections brought the total case count to 1,436,369, less the 16 duplicates that were removed.
Of these, 52,708 were still active cases in hospitals and isolation facilities. These included 130 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries but were found to be active cases.
The additional mortalities raised the Covid-19 death toll in the country to 25,149, including 27 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries.
The death toll crossed 25,000 on Saturday, July 3, nine days after reaching 24,000 on June 24. The case fatality rate remained at 1.75 percent for the fifth straight day.
With the new recoveries, the total recoveries increased to 1,358,512, or 94.6 percent of the total case count.
Although only one laboratory failed to submit its data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System on July 1, testing output was relatively low at 43,999 and the positivity rate remained elevated at 11.5 percent.
Last 2 weeks
Based on the DOH two-week running total of new cases, Davao City climbed to the top among the cities and provinces as cases continued to increase.
Davao City posted 3,170 cases in the last 14 days to July 3, a 6.9 percent increase from 2,963 on June 26.
Laguna Province, which used to top the list, slid to second spot with a two-week running total of 2,883, lesser than the 3,032 on June 26.
It was followed by Cavite with 2,155 (lesser than 2,333), Iloilo Province with 1,886 (up from 1,686) and Negros Occidental, which entered the list, with 1,554 as of July 3.
Among the regions, Western Visayas surpassed the National Capital Region (NCR) to land in second place, next to Calabarzon.
As of July 3, Calabarzon had a two-week running total of 8,217 cases, followed by Western Visayas with 7,691, NCR with 7,577, Davao Region with 5,875 and Central Luzon with 4,853.
Only Davao Region posted an increase. The four other regions posted declines.
Vaccinations
Globally, the World Health Organization said Covid-19 incidence remained very high, with an average of over 370, 000 cases reported each day over the past week to June 27.
The cumulative number of cases reported globally has exceeded 183 million and the number of global deaths is creeping toward 4.0 million, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center tracker showed Sunday.
Over 3.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally, the tracker also showed.
In the Philippines, more than 11 million doses have been administered as of July 1, with the latest one million doses given in just four days from June 28 to July 1, according to National Task Force for Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon.
First dose inoculations reached 8,288,756. Among those who received the first dose, 2,727,442 have also received the second dose.
The fully vaccinated now comprise about 3.7 percent of the over 74 million Filipinos eligible to receive the vaccine.
The government is inoculating priority groups A1 (healthcare workers and others), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with comorbidities), A4 (workers who need to go out) and A5 (indigent). (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)