MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines recorded 27,331 additional COVID-19 cases in the past week, which translated to a 13% increase from a week before.
Cases averaged 3,904 a day from August 1 to 7, the Department of Health reported Monday.
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Seventy-six of the new cases had severe and critical illness.
A total of 772 patients were in severe and critical conditions, representing 9.3% of the country’s total COVID-19 admissions, the DOH said.
Data from the department showed that 24.8% of 2,514 beds in intensive care units were occupied, and 30.9% of 21,548 non-ICU beds were used.
The DOH also verified 80 COVID-related fatalities during the past week. Of those deaths, 32 occurred from July 25 to August 7.
In a separate report, OCTA Research said that the provinces of Albay, Benguet, Cagayan, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Isabela, La Union, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Quezon province, Rizal, Tarlac, Zambales, Palawan, Aklan, Bohol, Capiz, and Negros Oriental recorded “very high” positivity rates, or figures above 20%.
Meanwhile, the positivity rate—or the percentage of infected people out of all tested—in Metro Manila rose to 17.5% from 15.5%.
The World Health Organization recommends the proportion of COVID-19 tests coming back positive should remain below 5% to ensure the spread of the virus is under control.
The Philippines has confirmed over 3.8 million COVID-19 infections, with more than 60,000 deaths, since the pandemic started in 2020.
Over 71 million Filipinos have completed vaccination against COVID-19. However, only 16.6 million people have received boosters.