New COVID-19 cases drop to 789 from August 14 to 20 in Philippines

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The Philippines recorded 789 COVID-19 infections from August 14 to 20, lower than the cases logged in the preceding week, the Department of Health said Tuesday.

According to the DOH, COVID-19 cases were averaging 113 per day last week. The daily average was 15% lower than infections logged from August 7 to 13.

Of the additional cases, 11 were classified as severe and critical. In total, there were 242 patients experiencing severe and critical conditions, which accounted for 9.2% of the total COVID-19 admissions in the country.

Data from the DOH showed that only 11% of 1,636 intensive care unit beds and 13.5% of 14,649 non-ICU beds were used as of Sunday.

The health department also confirmed 10 deaths in the past week.

The Philippines has recorded over four million COVID-19 cases, with over 66,000 deaths, since the pandemic began in early 2020.

Over 78.4 million have been fully immunized against COVID-19, with only 23.8 million individuals receiving boosters.

Local health authorities have detected 12 cases of EG.5, which was designated as a variant under monitoring by the World Health Organization. The WHO noted that EG.5 may cause a rise in cases and become dominant in some countries. - Gaea Katreena Cabico