The Philippines logged on Sunday 203 new cases of COVID-19—the lowest in almost 19 months—with a low case reporting due to Typhoon Odette, the Department of Health said.
“The low case report is due to the suspension of the operations of four labs on December 17, and failure to submit data from 41 labs to the COVID-19 Document Repository System because of Typhoon Odette,” the DOH said in its Case Bulletin 645.
“Based on data in the last 14 days, the 45 [laboratories] contribute, on average, 15.4 percent of samples tested and 1.8% of positive individuals,” the DOH added.
The DOH also reported 64 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 50,739.
“This issue is currently being coordinated with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units to ensure information is up to date,” the Health department said.
The country also logged 395 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 2,777,109.
Active cases stood at 9,729, of which 485 are asymptomatic; 3,685 mild; 3,379 moderate; 1,800 severe; and 380 critical.
Earlier Saturday, the country received 811,980 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine given by the government of France through the COVAX facility.
According to the National Task Force Against COVID-19, the fresh batch of vaccine doses landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 past 9 p.m.
NTF special adviser Ted Herbosa expressed gratitude to the government of France for the donation.
The Philippines had 43.3 million fully vaccinated individuals as of December 17.
