THE Philippines logged for the first time since January this year less than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), but this was due to low testing output, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
In its 4 p.m. Tuesday, November 16, case bulletin, the DOH said 849 infections were added to the tally, out of the 28,128 samples tested on November 14.
“The 849 new cases reported today is largely due to the weekly dip of testing output due to weekend encoding of positive cases to CDRS (Covid-19 Document Repository System,” said the DOH.
It added that last Sunday, November 14, “showed the lowest testing output this week.”
The DOH said six laboratories were not able to submit data to the CDRS last November 14. Based on the data in the last 14 days, these six laboratories contributed more or less 0.8 percent of all samples tested and 0.7 percent of individuals who tested positive for coronavirus.
The 849 new cases brought the country’s total caseload to 2,819,341, of which 25,464 or 0.9 percent have remained active.
The positivity rate went down to 3.2 percent.
The DOH also reported 2,393 new recoveries that brought the total number of people who have recovered from Covid-19 to 2,748,069 or 97.5 percent.
The death toll rose to 45,808 with 99 new mortalities. The total number of deaths account for 1.62 percent of all confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Philippines.
Majority or 59.1 percent of the Covid-19 patients have mild symptoms of the disease, 5.9 percent were asymptomatic, 18.61 percent were moderate cases, 11.5 percent were severe, and 4.9 percent were critical. (SunStar Philippines)