THE Department of Health (DOH) reported over 20,000 cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) for the third consecutive day on Sunday, September 5, 2021, as the highly infectious Delta variant continued to sweep the country.
In its case bulletin, the DOH recorded 20,019 new infections, 173 additional deaths and 20,089 new recoveries.
The proportion of moderate, severe and critical cases increased to nearly 5.0 percent of the active cases as of September 3, while the mild cases dropped to 92 percent from an average of 95 percent and the asymptomatic cases shot up to over 3.0 percent from an average of less than 2.0 percent.
Of the 157,438 active cases as of September 3, 0.7 percent were critical, 1.4 percent were severe, 2.51 percent were moderate, 92 percent were mild and 3.4 percent were asymptomatic.
The new infections brought the cumulative Covid-19 case count in the Philippines to 2,080,984. There were 119 duplicates, including 95 cases tagged as recoveries and one reported as death, that were removed from the tally.
The daily positivity rate remained elevated at 27.5 percent out of the 73,472 samples tested for Sars-CoV-2 on September 3. Five laboratories were unable to submit their testing output to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.
The additional deaths, which included 58 cases reclassified from recoveries, raised the Covid-19 death toll in the Philippines to 34,234. The case fatality rate remained at 1.65 percent.
Including the new recoveries, a total of 1,889,312 individuals have now overcome the infection.
DOH officials have warned that the daily cases will continue to increase as the Delta variant, which has been detected in all regions except Bangsamoro, is highly transmissible, with one infected individual infecting up to eight others in just seconds.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier said daily cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) could range from 16,000 to 43,000 a day by September 30.
These projections are based on some assumptions that include mobility, public health and healthcare capacities, and the public’s adherence to the minimum public health standards (MPHS) which include physical distancing and wearing of face masks and face shields.
The DOH earlier called on local government units, especially in the NCR, to lower the interval between case detection to isolation, strictly monitor compliance to MPHS and ramp up vaccination against Covid-19.
Globally, more than 220 million people have been infected with Sars-CoV-2 and over 4.56 million had died from Covid-19, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)