THE Department of Health (DOH) logged only 1,190 new COVID-19 infections today, much lower than yesterday’s 1,547, according to the DOH COVID-19 Case Bulletin issued today, November 17, 2021.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 2,820,494 cases.
Active cases, on the other hand, again went down further to only 23,846 cases today compared to yesterday’s 25,464 count. Active cases or patients are those undergoing treatment in government hospitals and temporary quarantine facilities.
Recoveries from COVID-19 today, meanwhile, went slightly up to 2,759 from yesterday’s 2,393 count. Overall, COVID-19 recoveries in the country have reached a total of 2,750,531 cases.
However, the DOH logged 309 COVID-19 fatalities today compared to yesterday’s 99 to bring the total COVID-19 deaths to 46,117.
The DOH said that of the recorded 309 deaths today, only 18 occurred in November 2021. About 61 percent of the reported deaths today happened in October 2021 due to late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya. This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure that information is up to date, the DOH said.
Positivity rate today, meanwhile, pushed up slightly to 3.5 percent compared to yesterday’s 3.2 percent based on 33,567 people who were tested.
Around 63.3 percent of the cases were mild and asymptomatic, the DOH bulletin noted.
A total of 37 duplicates were removed from the total case count, of which 33 were recoveries.
There were also 264 cases tagged earlier as recoveries but were reclassified as deaths upon final validation.
All laboratories were operational on November 15, 2021 while one laboratory was not able to submit its data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS). Based on data in the last 14 days, the one non-reporting laboratory contributed, on average, 0.1 percent of samples tested and 0.1 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. It 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.