THE Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, confirmed more than 14,000 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and over 200 deaths for the second day in a row.
In its case bulletin Sunday, the DOH reported 14,479 new cases, 270 additional deaths and 10,720 new recoveries.
The daily positivity rate was lower at 23.5 percent, compared to the previous day’s 24.9 percent, as testing output improved to 59,857 on Aug. 13.
The DOH logged 102,748 active cases in hospitals and isolation facilities, which is 5.9 percent of the country’s total caseload. These include five cases that were previously tagged as recoveries.
Of these active cases, 0.8 percent were critical, 1.3 percent were severe, 0.9 percent were moderate, 95.9 percent were mild and 1.1 percent were asymptomatic.
The Philippines is currently classified as high risk for Covid-19, with a two-week growth rate of 60 percent as of Aug. 12 and an average daily attack rate of 8.37 per 100,000 population in the recent two weeks from July 30 to Aug. 12 compared to the previous two weeks.
On Sunday, the DOH also reported the first Covid-19 case with the lambda variant in the country.
It is still verifying whether she is a returning overseas Filipino or a local case. Back tracing and case investigation are also being conducted.
The lambda variant (C.37), which was first detected in Peru in August 2020, is classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization because of its potential to affect the transmissibility of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. It is being monitored for its possible clinical significance.
On Saturday, Aug. 14, the number of active Covid-19 cases in Central Visayas breached the 15,000 mark after a four-digit number of fresh cases were added to the count.
The DOH 7 logged a total of 1,289 new Covid-19 cases, which brought the region’s total active cases to 15,155.
Cebu Province had the most number of new cases with 558, followed by Cebu City with 349, Mandaue City with 164, Lapu-Lapu City with 152; Bohol with 38, Negros Oriental with 26 and Siquijor with two additional cases. (MVI / SunStar Philippines / WBS)