Manila: The Philippines has recorded higher-than-expected and all-time high count of 33,169 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours on Monday (January 10, 2022), the Department of Health reported.
Of the new reported cases, 97.1% were considered either "mild" or "asypmtomatic". There were 3,725 recoveries and 145 deaths recorded on Monday.
The agency also reported a 46% positivity rate, based on reports on January 8.
The health department reported that increasing number of Philippine healthcare workers infected with COVID-19, though it was not immediately clear what was the case count among Filipino health workers.
On Monday (January 10), the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), announced it was in need of additional personnel after 396 healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19.
A number of presidential and vice presidential candidates in the upcoming elections have either tested positive or are isolating after being exposed to cases that were later PCR-confirmed, including Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson (positive); former senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos (isolating due to possible exposure); both are running for president. Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, who is running for vice president, is isolating alongside some of this family member.
Out of the total number of confirmed COVID recored in the Asian country, there are 157,52 currently active cases (5.3%); 2,788,711 (93.0%) recoveries and 52,293 (1.74%) deaths.
Dr. Guido David, a professor of mathematics and a government consultant on COVID, stated: “33,169, much higher than projected numbers. Is it on the way to 40k? Possible but hopefully not. I expect 19k to 20k in the NCR. Tomorrow we will exceed 3M cases.”
Most of the new COVID-19 infections recently recorded were from the National Capital Region (NCR), independent pandemic monitor Octa Research said on Monday, citing data from the Department of Health (DOH).
The DOH on Sunday reported its highest single-day tally of new COVID-19 cases at 28,707, raising the overall case count to 2,965,447.
