DOH logs 9,465 COVID-19 cases, up 112% in first week of May
MANILA, Philippines — New COVID-19 cases in the Philippines jumped 112% in the first week of May, with the Department of Health reporting 9,465 additional infections.
In a bulletin issued Monday, the DOH said an average of 1,352 cases a day were recorded in the past week. Of the additional cases, 50 were severe and critical.
There were 410 patients in severe and critical conditions, which accounted for 8.2% of the total COVID-19 admissions in the country.
The Philippines had 11,408 COVID-19 active cases as of Sunday.
Data from the health department showed that only 16.5% of 2,097 beds in intensive care units were used, while 21.2% of 17,758 non-ICU beds were occupied.
The DOH also verified nine deaths in the past week. None of those deaths occurred in the last two weeks.
The significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases comes after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic no longer constitutes a global health emergency. WHO first declared public health emergency of international concern over the crisis on January 30, 2020, and classified it a pandemic on March 11.
Despite this, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said COVID-19 is here to stay.
“It is still killing, and it’s changing,” he said.
The DOH said it will convene the members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases to discuss and reassess policies and other guidelines affected by the WHO declaration.
The Philippines has confirmed over 4.1 million COVID-19 infections, with more than 66,000 deaths, since the pandemic began in early 2020.
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