The Department of Health (DOH) reported 17,677 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
According to the agency, all labs were operational on January 23, 2022. However, 6 labs were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS).
"Based on data in the last 14 days, the 6 labs contribute, on average, 0.6 percent of samples tested and 0.8 percent of positive individuals," DOH said.
Tuesday's update brings the total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 3,459,646. Of this, 7.2 percent are active cases or a total of 247,451.
The country posted a 37.2 percent positivity rate. DOH stated that 98.1 percent of cases are mild and asymptomatic.
Of the active cases, 235,181 are mild; 7,464 are asymptomatic; 2,996 are moderate; 1,502 are severe while 308 are in critical condition.
DOH also reported 33,144 new recories, bringing the total to 3,158,597 or 91.3 percent of the total number while 79 have died bringing the death toll from COVID-19 to 52,598 or 1.55 percent of the total number.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) and NCR plus areas are starting to decrease, cases and hospitalization remain to be high.
"But given the country's high vaccination rates and more effective and efficient protocols in place, most of the places are asymptomatic, mild and moderate," she added.
DOH said that the country is now better equipped to treat COVID-19 compared to previous surges, but the public must remain vigilant against the increase in bed utilization.
Most positive cases no longer need hospitalization but due to high infection rates from Omicron, bed utilization rates have increased. DOH said that it is closely monitoring which hospitals require more support and that they are procuring more innovative medicines for COVID treatment.