THE Department of Health (DOH) recorded a total of 16,044 new COVID-19 cases today, slightly lower from yesterday’s 16,694 count, according to the latest DOH COVID-19 Case Bulletin issued today, August 22, 2021.
With the additional cases today, the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country is now at 1,839,635.
Also, the number of active cases still remained high at 125,900 from yesterday’s 123,935 count. Active cases or patients are those undergoing treatment in government hospitals and temporary quarantine facilities.
A total of 215 COVID-19 deaths were registered today, significantly lower than yesterday’s 398 total. This brings the total number of COVID-19 fatalities today to 31,810.
Positivity rate went up slightly to 25.5 percent from yesterday’s 25.2 percent, with 65,583 people who were tested.
The DOH also logged 13,952 new recoveries from the COVID-19 disease today, which is less than the 15,805 recoveries posted yesterday.
Currently, there are now 1,681,925 individuals listed as total recoveries.
Majority, or 97.2 percent of the cases, are mild and asymptomatic.
A total of 460 duplicates were removed from the total case count, of which 427 were recoveries.
Also, 120 cases tagged earlier as recoveries were reclassified as deaths upon final validation.
All laboratories were operational on August 20, 2021 while six laboratories were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS). Based on data in the last 14 days, the six non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 2.9 percent of samples tested and 3.4 percent of positive individuals.
The agency continues to remind the public to ensure their safety and to strictly observe safety protocols and to have themselves vaccinated as soon as possible. The DOH also reiterates that the safety of the country is everyone’s responsibility, and that by helping each other, the country will overcome this COVID-19 pandemic.