People spend more time outdoors in Manila on the first day of Alert Level 1 on March 1, 2022. As the country steps into the loosest COVID19 restriction, the health department said that people should still wear well-fitted masks at all times except when eating or drinking, and when engaging in physical activities in venues where physical distancing can be maintained. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA (UPDATED) - The Philippines tallied about 30 percent more COVID-19 cases in the last 7 days compared to the previous week, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
From June 6 to 12, the country recorded 1,682 new COVID-19 cases or an average of 240 per day, the DOH said. This is 30.4 percent higher than cases from May 30 to June 5, said the agency.
Of the additional infections, 8 were severe and critical.
This is the highest number of cases logged in a single week since April 4 to 10, when the DOH logged 1,871 cases, according to the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group.
It is also the first time after 7 straight weeks that the weekly number of cases exceeded 1,500, the research group said.
A total of 498 or 11.3 percent of COVID-19 patients in hospitals were in severe and critical condition, as of June. 12. The figure is lower than the previous week's 599 severe and critical patients who comprised 12.3 percent of COVID-19 hospital admissions at the time.
This is the lowest number of severe and critical cases logged in six weeks, or since the week of April 25 to May 1, when the DOH announced zero new severe and critical cases, the ABS-CBN IRG said.
A total of 345 or 16.6 percent of 2,078 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients were occupied as of Sunday, according to the DOH's latest bulletin.
During the past week, the DOH said it verified 5 more COVID-related fatalities, citing late encoding of death information. Two of the deaths occurred this month while the remaining 3 "have no dates of death," the DOH added.
On Monday, 386 new cases were reported, the highest daily tally in over two months or since April 3.
Of these cases, 188 are from Metro Manila.
The number of active cases is at 3,097, the highest since May 13.
Some 69 million people have been fully vaccinated against the respiratory disease, of whom 14.5 million have received their booster shots.
The DOH on Saturday said Metro Manila posted a 1.6-percent rise in its positivity rate, but said the uptick was not alarming.
Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia, meantime, stood by her executive order lifting the mandatory use of face masks outdoors in the province.