Philippines' COVID-19 cases in past week up by 7 percent

MANILA — The Philippines recorded 8,292 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, the Department of Health said Monday. 

From December 5-11, an average of 1,185 daily infections were recorded in the country, which is 7 percent higher compared to the previous week.

Of the new infections during the week, 6 or 0.07 percent were severe and critical, according to DOH's latest bulletin.

As of Sunday, 650 or 10.6 percent of COVID-19 admissions were in severe and critical condition, the agency said.

At least 546 or 22.4 percent of 2,435 intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients were occupied. The non-ICU bed utilization rate was at 24 percent.

During the past week, the DOH has also verified 156 more COVID-related fatalities, citing late encoding of death information.

Of the 156 deaths, 30 occurred in December 2022, 36 in November 2022, 1 in October 2022, 6 in February 2022, 9 in January 2022, 1 in December 2021, 4 in November 2021, 17 in October 2021, 19 in September 2021, 6 in August 2021, 3 in July 2021, 4 in June 2021, 7 in May 2021, 7 in April 2021, 1 in February 2021, 1 in December 2020, 1 in September 2020, 2 in August 2020, and 1 in June 2020.

As of December 11 , more than 73.7 million people in the country are fully vaccinated against the respiratory disease, the DOH said.

Of the figure, some 21 million have received their first boosters.

Last week, the DOH conducted a special vaccination drive to increase booster uptake and vaccination coverage in the pediatric population.

Some 132,000 people received their first booster against COVID-19 during the 3-day "Bakunahang Bayan".

Vaccination coverage among the 5 to 11 age group has also increased to 49.3 percent. The government's target for this group is 10.8 million.

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