MANILA — The Philippines recorded 7,731 additional COVID-19 cases in the past week, the Department of Health said Monday.

From Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, an average of 1,104 daily infections were recorded in the country, which is 4 percent lower compared to the previous week.

Of the new infections during the week, 2 or 0.03 percent were severe and critical, according to DOH's latest bulletin.

As of Sunday, 595 or 9.1 percent of COVID-19 admissions were in severe and critical condition, the agency said.

At least 534 or 22.1 percent of 2,430 intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients were occupied. The non-ICU bed utilization rate was at 25.3 percent.

During the past week, the DOH has also verified 134 more COVID-related fatalities, citing late encoding of death information. The deaths occurred in the following months:

• 2 in December 2022
• 18 in November 2022
• 1 in April 2022
• 1 in March 2022
• 3 in February 2022
• 13 in January 2022
• 2 in December 2021
• 6 in November 2021
• 18 in October 2021
• 17 in September 2021
• 14 in August 2021
• 6 in July 2021
• 7 in June 2021
• 6 in May 2021
• 6 in April 2021
• 6 in March 2021
• 1 in February 2021
• 1 in January 2021
• 2 in November 2020
• 1 in October 2020
• 1 in September 2020
• 2 in July 2020

As of November 29, some 73.7 million people in the country are fully vaccinated against the respiratory disease, the DOH said.

Of the figure, around 20.9 million have received their first boosters.

In late November, the DOH confirmed it had detected 14 cases of of omicron subvariant BQ.1, which is more contagious and better at evading immunity.

Thirteen of the cases were found in Cordilleras, Ilocos Region, Calabarzon, Central Visayas, and Metro Manila, the agency said.

The BQ.1, which is a sublineage of omicron BA.5, is considered a variant of interest by the European Center for Disease Control.

• Philippines detects 14 cases of omicron subvariant BQ.1

A VOI is coronavirus variant with genetic changes that are predicted or known to alter virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity and immune escape.

The BQ.1 is driving up COVID-19 infections in the US, UK, and parts of Europe.

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