MANILA (2nd UPDATE) — The Philippines logged 4,456 COVID-19 cases in the past week, the Department of Health's latest case bulletin showed Tuesday.

According to ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group, this is the highest number of weekly cases in 18 weeks, or since the week of December 19 to December 25, 2022, when the DOH logged 5,664 cases based on the COVID-19 Data Drop.

This is also the 7th straight week that the number of weekly cases is above 1,000, it added.

From April 24 to 30, an average of 637 daily infections were recorded in the country, which is 42 percent higher compared to the previous week.

Of the new infections during the week, 22 cases were considered severe or critical, the health agency said.

As of Sunday, 351 cases or 8 percent of total COVID-19 admissions were in severe and critical condition, the DOH added. The ABS-CBN IRG said the number is 2% higher than it was the prior week or 6 admissions more than the prior week’s 345 cases.

At least 303 or 15 percent of intensive care unit beds for COVID patients were occupied. The non-ICU bed utilization rate was at 18.1 percent.

This is the 19th straight week that the COVID-19 ICU bed utilization rate is below 20 percent, the ABS-CBN IRG said.

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'LOW RISK'

In a press briefing Tuesday, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country's healthcare utilization rate remained "low risk" despite an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

"Itong pagtaas ng mga kaso na nakikita natin sa ngayon, hindi po siya nagta-translate sa mas maraming hospital admissions... sa mas maraming severe critical cases and even deaths," she told reporters.

(The rise in cases that we are seeing does not translate to more hospital admissions or severe critical cases and even deaths.)

The recent increase in coronavirus infections is unlike those recorded at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, she added.

Vergeire said a "multitude of factors" was behind the uptick, like the increased mobility among the public and the presence of more transmissible COVID-19 variants, such as the "Arcturus".

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Based on the DOH's COVID-19 Tracker, the Philippines has 5,875 active COVID-19 cases as of April 30.

Since the pandemic broke out, the country has recorded over 4,093,000 coronavirus infections. The death toll stood at 66,444.

So far, more than 78.4 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Of the figure, over 23.8 million have received their first booster dose while almost 4.4 million have gotten the second booster shot.

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