Cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country grew to 371,630 as a total of 1,607 new cases were confirmed Monday, the Department of Health said.
The Health department also reported 245 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries nationwide to 328,258.
Sixty-two new fatalities were added to the death toll which is now at 7,039.
Total active cases are at 36,333.
The latest case bulletin showed that Davao City recorded the highest count of new cases on October 26 with 90 followed by Cavite with 88, Rizal with 74, Negros Occidental with 68, and Quezon with 68.
Moreover, of the active cases, 82.6 percent are mild cases, 10.9 percent are asymptomatic, while 4.1 percent are in critical condition, and 2.3 percent are severe.
Latest data from the department also showed that 58 percent of the intensive care unit beds dedicated for COVID-19 cases are available, while 57 percent of isolation beds, 65 percent of ward beds, and 80 percent ventilators are also unoccupied.
Vaccine czar
Meanwhile, the Health department said it is open with the idea of designating a vaccine czar to oversee issues and developments concerning vaccines for the coronavirus disease.
Considering the current landscape enforced by the government in handling the pandemic by assigning different czars for various priority strategies like the isolation czar, testing czar, hospital czar, among others, the department would welcome the move to assign a vaccine czar.
“We saw an improvement in the facilitation of our efforts because there was this specific person overseeing and providing this guidance for the strategies when it comes to existing czars that we have, so if we are going to have a vaccine czar, of course the DOH would very much welcome that,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
The health official, however, said that if that plan would not push through, the DOH “will still undergo the process that we usually have for vaccine implementation.”
“Actually we have been preparing for that (vaccine implementation) even without the vaccine czar but of course if there will be an assigned vaccine czar, the DOH will very much support that,” she added.