DAVAO CITY - The Department of Health (DOH) in Davao said one out of seven coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in the region was a health worker.

Based on Davao Region’s COVID-19 Weekly Situationer released on Wednesday, the region has already recorded 993 confirmed cases, and 139 of which were health workers “who got infected while providing services to the patients”.

The DOH in Davao said a total of 1,444 health care workers have been tested for COVID-19, and 88 percent of them tested negative.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, the DOH Davao Center for Health Development (DCHD) has reported 23 new cases of COVID-19 in the region, bringing the total number of active cases to 398.

Davao City and Davao del Norte recorded 10 new cases each, while two cases were recorded in Davao Oriental and one case in Davao del Sur. The DOH said nine of these cases were locally stranded individuals (SLIs), while four were returning overseas Filipinos.

Among the active cases, DOH said two were in critical condition, four were manifesting severe symptoms, 74 have mild symptoms and 318 were reported asymptomatic.

The DOH Davao also recorded 13 new recoveries. Eight of these were from Davao City, three from Davao del Norte, and two from Davao de Oro.

In terms of recovery rate, Davao region was at 56 percent, which is higher than the national recovery rate of 33 percent.

DOH Davao also reported that the current total bed capacity for COVID-19 in different hospitals in the region was at 280.

“To date, there are still 100 available hospital beds,” the DOH Davao said.

Meanwhile, there were 6,638 total beds from different local government unit’s Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities (TTMF). The health department said only 27 percent, or 1,780 of these are occupied, and 73 percent, or 4,858 are still available.

“As the cases are observed to rise, Davao region’s bed capacity is also increasing,” it said.