The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reported 4,002 new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections, raising the overall tally to 147,526.
The DOH said the additional cases reported were based on the total Covid-19 tests done by 93 out of 100 operational laboratories.
Majority of the newly announced cases were from the National Capital Region (NCR) with 2,445 cases, Laguna with 319 cases, Cebu with 212 cases, Rizal with 142 cases, and Cavite with 101 cases.
These areas are currently under the second-most stringent modified enhanced community quarantine.
The department also reported 1,403 new recoveries and 23 deaths, bringing the total number of recoveries to 70,387 and the number of deaths to 2,426.
“Of the 4,002 reported cases today, 3,304 or 83 percent occurred within the recent 14 days (July 31 to August 13) and the top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were NCR with 2,077 or 63 percent; Region 4A (Calabarzon) with 609 or 18 percent; and Region 3 (Central Luzon) with 115 or 3 percent,” the DOH said.
It noted that of the 23 deaths, 13 or 57 percent occurred in August; six or 26 percent in July; one or 4 percent in June; two or 9 percent in April; and one or 4 percent in March.
The deaths were from NCR with 10 (43 percent), Calabarzon with five (22 percent), Central Visayas with three (13 percent), Cordillera region with three (13 percent), Zamboanga Peninsula with one (4 percent), and Northern Mindanao one (4 percent), the DOH said.
It added that 225 duplicates were removed from the total case count and of these, 12 recovered cases and one death were removed.
One case that was previously reported to have recovered has been validated to have died and has been included in the count of new deaths.
The health department also reported 74,713 active cases — about 91.2 percent are mild, 7.3 percent are asymptomatic, 0.6 percent are severe, and 0.9 percent are critical patients.
As of Tuesday, the 79 licensed reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratories and 26 licensed GeneXpert laboratories have conducted a total of 1,747,934 tests nationwide.
The DOH said it has a 17,300 total bed capacity dedicated to Covid-19 patients.
Occupied are about 53 percent of 1,500 intensive care unit beds; 49 percent of 11,500 isolation beds; and 51 percent of 4,500 ward beds.
About 32 percent of 2,100 ventilators are occupied. (PNA)