Another 17,382 people were found to be positive with coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Saturday, Jan. 29.
The total number of active infections across the country was at 213,587.
The top regions with the most number of new infections were Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Davao Region.
Most of the active cases or 199,893 have mild symptoms. There are 8,736 patients who are asymptomatic, 3,114 are moderate, 1,526 are severe, and 318 are critical.
The DOH also said that 35,382 more patients recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of survivors to 3,261,338.
Moreover, 70 new deaths were confirmed. This figure pushed the death toll to 53,871.
A total of 3,528,796 cases have already been confirmed in the country since the pandemic started.
Vaccine brands in immunization program
In a related development, the Philippines may eventually just use at least three or four vaccine brands in its COVID-19 immunization program.
DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said that the country already has many portfolios of COVID-19 vaccines currently.
"Hindi na po tayo bibili sa aking pagkakaintindi ng Sputnik vaccine; alam naman natin na kailangan natin nang i-limit – masyado nang marami tayong portfolio ng bakuna. There are some preferences, so baka i-limit lang natin ngayon sa (In my understanding, we will no longer procure Sputnik vaccines. We know that we should limit---we have many vaccine portfolios already. With this, maybe we should just limit it to) three or four vaccines in the future," she said during a public briefing.
The government is currently using AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Moderna, Pfizer, Sinovac, and Janssen in its COVID-19 vaccination program.