MANILA (XINHUA) – The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) reported 18,191 new COVID-19 infections yesterday, raising the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,493,447.
The DOH said the number of active cases dropped to 226,521 from Wednesday’s 230,410.
The DOH said 74 more people died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country’s death toll to 53,736, with two testing laboratories failing to submit data.
The agency added that the country’s positivity rate also dipped to 35.2 per cent from 35.8 per cent the previous day.
Meanwhile, the DOH has detected 618 more Omicron coronavirus variants, including its sub-variant BA.2 or the so-called “stealth Omicron”, in the latest batch of whole-genome sequencing of samples taken from locals and returning overseas Filipinos, bringing the total to 1,153.
The DOH said it has detected both the original Omicron lineage and its sub-lineages, BA.1 and BA.2. The BA.2 sub-lineage, first seen on December 31 last year, was prevalent in the latest samples.
The Philippines has seen four COVID-19 waves since the pandemic began in January 2020. The country reported the highest single-day tally on January 15 this year, with 39,004 new cases.
The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested more than 25 million people since the disease emerged.
