MANILA (UPDATE) - The Philippines recorded 19,536 new COVID-19 cases during the last week, a 33-percent increase from a week before, the Department of Health said Monday.

The country logged an average of 2,791 infections per day from July 18 to 24, according to the DOH's latest bulletin. This is the highest since the week of Feb. 7 to 13, 2022 when 28,280 cases were logged, the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group said.

It is also the second straight week that the daily average number of cases has remained above 2,000. The daily average number of cases in the week prior was 2,091, the research group added.

Of the additional infections during the week, 56 were severe and critical.

A total of 666 or 8.7 percent of COVID-19 patients in hospitals were in severe and critical condition, said the DOH. There were 589 severe and critical admissions the week before.

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A total of 578 or 21.7 percent of 2,664 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients were occupied as of Sunday, according to the latest bulletin.

"Our latest projections are showing that these case increases may translate to a spike in total and ICU admissions in October, if compliance with minimum public health standard (MPHS) continues to decline and booster rates remain low," the DOH said in a separate statement.

It is the first time in 20 weeks that the ICU occupancy rate exceeded 20 percent, according to the ABS-CBN IRG. The last time it topped 20 percent was in the week of March 1 to 7, when it was at 25.7 percent, the group said.

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During the past week, the DOH said it verified 42 more COVID-related fatalities, citing late encoding of death information. The deaths occurred in the following months last year:

• - 1 in October 2021
• - 13 in August 2021
• - 9 in July 2021
• - 9 in June 2021
• - 9 in May 2021
• - 1 in April 2021

CURRENT ACTIVE CASES HIGHEST SINCE APRIL 10

On Monday, the DOH said the Philippines recorded 2,778 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths.

The number of people currently positive for the coronavirus stood at 27,625. This is the highest number of active cases since April 10, ABS-CBN Data Analytics Team head Edson Guido said.

The country's total confirmed cases already climbed to 3,755,403.

Of the new cases, 942 are from Metro Manila.

The total number of COVID-19 related deaths are now at 60,694.

Some 71 million people in the country have been fully vaccinated against the respiratory disease, of whom 15.9 million have received their booster shots.

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