MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines recorded 1,118 new COVID-19 cases and verified 16 deaths from May 9 to 15, the Department of Health said Monday.
The daily case average during that period was 160, which was 0.3% lower than a week earlier. Of the additional cases, 14 or 1.3% had severe and critical illness.
The DOH has recorded more than 3.68 million COVID-19 infections since the pandemic started in 2020.
There are currently 588 severe and critical admissions, which represent 10.6% of total COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
Data from the health department showed that 15.6% of 2,812 intensive care unit beds nationwide have been used, while 17.5% of 23,707 non-ICU beds have been utilized.
Of the 16 deaths verified during the past week, 10 occurred from May 2 to 15. Over 60,000 people have died in the Philippines since the beginning of the public health crisis.
According to the DOH, 68.6 million Filipinos—or 76.29% of the target population for vaccination—have been fully immunized against COVID-19. Of the figure, only 13.6 million have gotten booster shots.
Metro Manila and other parts of the country will stay under Alert Level 1 until end-May. This was announced following the detection of the BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant in the capital region and Palawan. DOH said there is no evidence suggesting the subvariant causes more severe disease.