The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday, July 17, said another 6,040 people were found positive with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
This was the first time that the country once again logged at least 6,000 cases in two weeks. The last time that the DOH announced more than 6,000 cases was on July 2 with 6,192 cases then.
The country's total caseload is now at 1,502,359. The DOH said that 3.1 percent of the overall tally or 47,257 cases are still being treated.
Of the active cases 91.8 percent are experiencing mild symptoms, two percent are asymptomatic, 1.6 percent are critical, 2.7 percent are in severe condition, and 1.89 percent are experiencing moderate symptoms.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they are still “seeing increase in the cases or plateauing of cases” in Western Visayas, Davao region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Bicol region, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos), and Caraga.
“Binabantayan natin maigi itong mga lugar na ito and titingnan natin in the coming weeks kung magtutuloy-tuloy (ang trend) para po makita natin how we are going to strict further itong classifications (We are closely monitoring these areas and we will see in the coming weeks if (the trend) continues, so we can see how we are going to strict further their classifications),” she said.
Meanwhile, another 7,213 more patients have recuperated, raising the recovery count to 1,428,504. The death toll, meanwhile, increased to 26,598 after 122 new fatalities were confirmed.
The latest case bulletin also showed that 56 percent of the intensive care unit beds nationwide, which are dedicated for COVID-19 patients, are occupied, while 46 percent of the isolation beds are currently utilized.