Commuters queue to ride the EDSA bus carousel from the Roosevelt station in Quezon City on August 23, 2021, the first weekday after Metro Manila is placed back under modified enhanced community quarantine. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA (UPDATE) — The total fatalities due to COVID-19 in the Philippines surpassed the 32,000-mark on Tuesday, after the health department announced 303 new deaths.
The country's COVID-19 death toll stood at 32,264, accounting for 1.73 percent of the total recorded coronavirus infections.
ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido said the country logged some 1,000 new deaths in the last 4 days alone and more than 5,000 in the past month.
Tuesday's newly reported fatalities include 161 cases first tagged as recoveries, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
The agency recorded 12,067 fresh COVID-19 cases amid the rampage of the more contagious COVID-19 Delta variant. It is the lowest in six days, the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group noted.
"The relatively low number of cases today is due to lower laboratory output last Sunday," DOH pointed out. Ten laboratories also failed to submit data on time.
The country's total confirmed COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,869,691, of which 127,703 or 6.8 percent are active.
This is the 10th straight day that active cases counted over 100,000, the ABS-CBN IRG said.
The positivity rate is at 24.9 percent, based on results of tests conducted on samples from 45,593 people last Sunday. Guido noted that the positivity rate is over 24 percent for the 5th straight day.
Total recoveries also increased by 14,565 to 1,709,724. It accounts for 91.4 percent of the total cases.
The DOH said 22 duplicates have been excluded from the running tally, 15 of which are recoveries.
ROAD TO 2 MILLION CASES
Guido earlier in the day said the country could see 1.9 million total COVID-19 cases by the end of the month and 2 million by the start of September.
The rise in infections is faster where community transmission of the more transmissible Delta variant is already assumed, according to officials.
A decrease in cases in National Capital Region may happen in the second week of September, according to the analyst.
The country's health care facilities are nearing the breaking point due to the continued stream of COVID-19 admissions, which started in late July.
The DOH bulletin for the day showed that 74 percent of ICU beds for COVID-19 in Metro Manila are already used up, while it is at 73 percent nationwide.
Ward beds in the capital region are also 72 percent occupied, and 67 percent across the country. It is at 62 percent for isolation beds both in Metro Manila and nationwide.
Ventilators, meanwhile, are 60 percent utilized in Metro Manila, and 53 percent nationwide.
As of Monday, nearly 13.2 million individuals are already fully vaccinated against the disease.
Nearly 17.5 million others, meanwhile, have received their first dose, data from the government showed.
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