MANILA (UPDATE) - The Philippines recorded 14,640 new COVID-19 cases in the previous week, reflecting about a 40-percent increase from a week before, the Department of Health said Monday.

The country logged an average of 2,091 per day from July 11 to 17, according to the DOH's latest bulletin.

This is the first time in 21 weeks that the daily average cases reached 2,000, the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group said. The last time was in the week of Feb. 14-20, when the daily average cases hit 2,065, the group added.

• Philippines logs 10,000 COVID cases in past week, highest since mid-Feb

A total of 589 or 8.7 percent of COVID-19 patients in hospitals were in severe and critical condition. The figure is 6 percent higher than the previous week's 555 severe and critical patients, but comprised the same ratio (8.7 percent) of COVID-19 hospital admissions at the time.

In the last three weeks, the percentage of admitted severe and critical cases to the total COVID admissions remained below 9 percent, the ABS-CBN IRG noted.

UPWARD ICU UTILIZATION TREND

Of the additional infections in the past week, 35 were severe and critical, said the DOH.

A total of 481 or 18.3 percent of 2,630 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients were occupied as of Sunday, the DOH said. This figure was at 17 percent a week before, according to the ABS-CBN IRG.

There is an upward trend seen in the utilization rate for COVID-19 ICU beds in the last 5 weeks or from June 13 to July 17, the research group added.

• July 13-19: 14.6 percent
• July 20-26: 14.9 percent
• June 27-July 3: 15.3 percent
• July 4-10: 17 percent
• July 11-17: 18.3 percent

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During the past week, the DOH said it verified one more COVID-related fatality, citing late encoding of death information. The death occurred in October 2021.

This is the lowest death toll logged in a single week in 7 weeks, or since the week of May 23-29 when zero deaths were reported due to issues with data collation system COVIDKaya, according to the ABS-CBN IRG.

NEW CASES STILL MORE THAN 2,000

On Monday, the DOH said the Philippines recorded 2,285 new COVID-19 cases, the fifth straight day that daily cases have breached the 2,000-mark.

The number of people currently positive for the coronavirus stood at 20,524. This is the highest number of active cases since April 17, ABS-CBN Data Analytics Team head Edson Guido said.

The country's total confirmed cases already climbed to 3,735,383.

Of the new cases, 911 are from Metro Manila.

The total number of COVID-19 related deaths are now at 60,641, with no new death reported Monday.

BREAKING: DOH reports 2,285 new cases today, more than 2,000 for the 5th straight day.

No new deaths were reported.

NCR with 911 new cases today.

The number of active cases has now breached 20,000 and is the highest since April 17.

The positivity rate on July 17 is at 11.2%. pic.twitter.com/oW0iLqIoCz

— Edson C. Guido (@EdsonCGuido) July 18, 2022

Some 71 million people have been fully vaccinated against the respiratory disease, of whom 15.5 million have received their booster shots.

The country's COVID positivity rate for July 10 to 16 is at 11.8 percent, higher than the 9.7 percent recorded the previous week, Guido said.

• Philippines reports 2,560 new COVID-19 cases; active cases highest since April 18

‘Small waves’ of increases in COVID-19 cases are possible in the Philippines until the last quarter of 2022, said Professor Jomar Rabajante of the University of the Philippines (UP) Pandemic Response Team.