FOR the first time since mid-August 2021, the number of active coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases fell below 100,000 as the downtrend in new infections continued and testing output remained low.
In its case bulletin Sunday, October 10, 2021, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 12,159 new cases, highest in the recent week from October 4 to 10 despite the low testing output of 53,880 on October 8.
These new cases brought the cumulative case count to 2,666,562.
The DOH also reported 119 additional deaths, raising the Covid-19 death toll to 39,624. The case fatality rate remained at 1.49 percent.
The DOH counted 27,727 recoveries, bringing the total to 2,536,011.
These pushed the active Covid-19 cases down to 90,927, the lowest since the 87,663 on August 12. Active cases now comprise just 3.4 percent of the total case count.
The new cases also brought the tally in the recent week from October 4 to 10 to 73,529, or a daily average of 10,504. This was over 28 percent lower than the previous seven-day average of 14,715 on September 27 to October 3.
The number of tests has likewise continued to decline, retreating by around 13 percent to an average of 52,905 per day in the current week from October 4 to 10 compared to the 60,947 daily average in the previous week from September 27 to October 3.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier said they were still looking into the decline.
Some assumptions on the downtrend include the fear of some Filipinos to get tested for Sars-CoV-2 because they might be extracted from their homes and brought to a quarantine facility if they test positive.
The DOH is also looking into the impact of the use of rapid antigen test in the contact tracing efforts of some local government units. The results of these tests are not included in the official DOH case count.
An antigen test merely determines whether an individual suffered from or is battling an infection, not necessarily Covid-19.
The DOH case bulletins are based on the results of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests on nasopharyngeal swabs or saliva specimens. The RT-PCR test detects the presence of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
Globally, the virus has infected over 237.6 million. Of this number, nearly 4.9 million had died from Covid-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus resource center. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)