MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health reported Tuesday 5,434 additional COVID-19 infections, the highest single-day rise since October 23, bringing the number of active cases to nearly 30,000.
Of the newly-reported cases, 99% occurred in the last 14 days. Most of the cases were reported in Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon.
The positivity rate was at 26.2%, based on 24,855 samples processed on Sunday. The World Health Organization recommends that positivity rate should remain at 5% or lower before countries reopen.
The DOH also logged 18 deaths, raising total fatalities to 51,604.
Meanwhile, the number of recoveries increased to 2,779,706 after 611 new recoveries were recorded.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Philippines has confirmed over 2.86 million COVID-19 cases.
Currently, there are 29,809 active cases. Of the figure, nearly 91% were mild and moderate.
Authorities have attributed the spike in COVID-19 cases to increased mobility during the holiday season, lax compliance with health protocols, and the presence of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
COVID-19 cases to peak end-January
- The current spike in infections believed to be driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant might peak by the end of January and may surpass the previous wave caused by the Delta variant.
- The provinces of Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal will be placed under Alert Level 3 from January 5 to 15 due to a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.
- Pharmaceutical company Unilab said that some of its products are temporarily out of stock in some drug stores “due to extraordinary demand.” The DOH, however, assured there is no ongoing shortage of paracetamols and other drugs for flu as it asked the public to refrain from panic buying.
— Gaea Katreena Cabico