THE Department of Health (DOH) tallied 13,827 new COVID-19 infections today, a solid drop from yesterday’s record-setting 22,366 count, according to the latest DOH COVID-19 Case Bulletin issued today, August 31, 2021.
The DOH said the relatively low number of cases today is due to lower laboratory output last Sunday, where lower number of samples from disease reporting units or local government units are also being observed during Sundays.
Still, the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country continues to inch closer to the 2-million mark with 1,989,857 cases.
Also, the number of active cases marked a slight decline with 145,562, lower than yesterday’s 148,594 count. Active cases or patients are those undergoing treatment in government hospitals and temporary quarantine facilities.
Also, 118 COVID-19 deaths were registered today, much lower than yesterday’s 222 total. This brings the total number of COVID-19 fatalities today to 33,448.
The DOH also logged 16,759 new recoveries from COVID-19 today, slightly lower than the 16,864 recoveries posted yesterday, which bring total recoveries to 1,810,847 individuals.
Positivity rate slid lower to 25.4 percent from yesterday’s 27.5 rate, with 49,187 people who were tested.
Majority, or 97.3 percent of the cases, are mild and asymptomatic.
A total of 172 duplicates were removed from the total case count, of which 153 were recoveries.
Also, 37 cases tagged earlier as recoveries were reclassified as deaths upon final validation.
All laboratories were operational on August 29, 2021 while eight 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 eight non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 0.9 percent of samples tested and 1.2 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.