PHL tallies over 17,000 COVID cases in past week 

THE PHILIPPINES posted 17,891 new coronavirus infections in the past week, with a daily average of 2,556 cases, the Department of Health (DoH) said on Monday. 

The daily average from Sept. 19 to 25 rose by 22% from a week earlier, it said in a bulletin. 

DoH said it had verified 242 deaths in the past week, 29 of which happened from Sept. 12 to 25. 

The Health department noted that 576 of 2,514 intensive care unit (ICU) beds had been used as of September 25, while 5,859 of 21,078 non-ICU beds were occupied.  

There were 790 severe and critical admissions, it added.  

The government has fully vaccinated over 73 million people, 19 million of whom have received booster shots, said the DoH. John Victor D. Ordoñez