THE Department of Health (DOH) logged 4,496 new COVID-19 infections today, which is lower than yesterday’s 6,943 count, according to the DOH COVID-19 Case Bulletin issued today, October 19, 2021.
The number of cases today is the lowest in 11 weeks when the DOH tallied 4.478 cases last July 28, 2021.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 2,731,735 cases.
The relatively low cases today, however, is due to lower laboratory output last Sunday, October 17.
Active cases, on the other hand, slid to 63,637 cases today after registering a 68,832 count yesterday. Active cases or patients are those undergoing treatment in government hospitals and temporary quarantine facilities.
Recoveries from COVID-19 today, meanwhile, slid to 9,609 after posting 19,687 yesterday to bring the total number of COVID-19 recoveries to 2,627,126 cases.
The DOH also reported 211 COVID-19 fatalities today compared to yesterday’s 86 count to bring the total COVID-19 deaths to 40,972.
Positivity rate today, meanwhile, lowered slightly to 2.4 percent from yesterday’s 12.5 percent from 35,766 people who were tested.
Majority, or 84.2 percent of the cases, are mild and asymptomatic.
A total of 47 duplicates were removed from the total case count, of which 31 were recoveries.
Also, 145 cases tagged earlier as recoveries were reclassified as deaths upon final validation.
All laboratories were operational on October 17, 2021 while seven laboratories were not able to submit its data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS). Based on data in the last 14 days, the seven non-reporting laboratories contributed, on average, 2.8 percent of samples tested and 2.0 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.