No new fatality related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was reported by the Department of Health (DOH) on Friday, July 23.
Based on its latest case bulletin, the DOH said that the COVID-19 death toll in the country remains at 26,891. However, the DOH clarified that this was due to technical issues with its case collection system.
"Due to technical issues encountered in COVIDKaya and the manual solution implemented as a contingency measure, cases reported today may not have up-to-date data entries in certain fields," the DOH said.
"Note that the zero deaths reported today is due to the current issues with COVIDKaya. This is currently being investigated with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and a resolution is expected in the next few days. Rest assured that the DOH is exerting all efforts to update the cases as soon as possible," it added.
Meanwhile, the DOH also logged 6,845 more COVID-19 cases nationwide. This was the highest number of daily recorded cases for this month so far. The new cases increased the country's total tally to 1,537,097.
With the newly detected cases, active cases soared to 55,069. Of these patients, 93.4 percent are mild, 1.3 percent are asymptomatic, 1.4 percent are critical, 2.3 percent are severe, 1.60 percent are in moderate condition.
The country's total recoveries increased to 1,455,137 after 2,330 new survivors were recorded.
The utilization of the country's intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 patients is at 52 percent, while 48 percent of isolation beds are being used currently.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while the Philippines is still under the low-risk classification of COVID-19 cases, some areas of the country, however, are observing a rise in infections.
Amid the detection of local Delta variant cases, the DOH is hopeful that this variant will not spread in the communities that might result in a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“Alalahanin po natin na ang Delta variant ay mabilis makapanghawa. In a fleet of second, maari po kayong mahawa kaya dapat doble ingat po tayo lahat (Let's remember that the Delta variant is highly contagious. In a fleet of seconds, you can be infected, so we must all be doubly careful),” said Vergeire.
“Aside from minimum public health standards, kailangan natin magpabakuna. Kapag turn na natin o eligible tayo, magpabakuna na dahil iyan ang magbibigay proteksyon sa inyo dito sa Delta variant na ito (Aside from minimum public health standards, we need to get vaccinated. When it's our turn or we are eligible, get vaccinated because that will give you protection against the Delta variant),” she added.