The Philippines on Saturday listed 7,689 new COVID-19 cases, the fifth straight day that new infections were fewer than 10,000, data from the Department of Health showed.
The positivity rate was at 23.3 percent, based on samples received from 40,075 individuals on Thursday, the 4 p.m. bulletin showed.
The positivity rate was the lowest in more than a month, or since January 1, ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido said.
“There is a decline in active cases for the 8th straight day,” Guido noted.
Meanwhile, the number of areas under a granular lockdown due to COVID-19 decreased further to 489, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Saturday.
Speaking at the Laging Handa public briefing, PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo reported that Covid…391 locked down areas were in the Cordillera Administrative Region, while 81 were from Region 2.
A total of 97,336 individuals nationwide were given warnings, while about 10,000 were penalized for violating protocols and restrictions in areas under a granular lockdown.
In the National Capital Region, almost 12,000 individuals received warnings, while nearly 3,600 paid fines.
The country now has 3,601,471 total confirmed novel coronavirus infections, 136,436 of whom are still battling the disease.
An additional death was confirmed due to COVID-19, but this was recorded in May last year. A duplicate, a fatality, was removed from the cumulative total, the DOH said.
The agency acknowledged the late reporting and said the circumstance was due to the “late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya.”
“This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date,” the DOH said.
Total fatalities remained at 54,214; recoveries, meanwhile, increased by 22,539 to 3,410,821.
A relatively high number of recuperations may still be recorded in the coming days due to the high number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks. Six laboratories failed to submit on time.