COVID cases dropping

AFTER previously seeing an uptick, the average number of daily coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines is slowly dropping, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Based on its latest COVID-19 case bulletin, the DOH said there is an average of 164 cases daily for the period of October 16 to 22, or 1,146 infection during the last seven days.

The figure is eight percent lower than 179 cases daily for the period of October 9 to 15.

The DOH said there were 22 additional severe and critical cases during the past week. Nine deaths were reported.

There are 221 severe and critical cases in the country, as of October 22. Of the total severe and critical cases, the report showed that 173 of them are occupying ICU beds, which account for the 11.8 percent of the 1,465 total nationwide.

On the other hand, there are 2,118 patients occupying COVID-19 beds, or 16.9 percent of the 12,536 total beds allocated nationwide. – Gerard Naval