Philippines records 19,536 new COVID-19 cases from July 18 to 24

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines logged 19,536 additional COVID-19 cases — or an average of 2,791 infections a day — from July 18 to 24, the Department of Health said Monday.

Infections in the country rose by 33% in the last seven days, according to the agency’s latest COVID-9 bulletin.

Of the new cases, 56 had severe and critical illness.

A total of 666 severe and critical patients are currently getting treatment for the respiratory disease in hospitals, representing 8.7% of the nation’s COVID-19 admissions. 

According to the DOH, 21.7% of 2,664 beds in intensive care units were occupied, and 26% of 22,231 non-ICU beds were used.

The health department also verified 44 COVID-related fatalities during the past week, although none occurred from July 11 to 24.

The Philippines has confirmed over 3.7 million COVID-19 infections, with more than 60,000 deaths, since the pandemic started in 2020. 

The country is battling a renewed increase in cases, fueled by the presence of fast-spreading variants, increased mobility of the public, and waning vaccine immunity.

More than 71.5 million people have completed vaccination against COVID-19. However, only around 15.9 million have gotten booster shots.

The Philippines will launch a COVID-19 vaccination program that aims to administer booster shots to 50% of the government's target population in the first 100 days of the Marcos administration. 

"We also encourage the eligible population to get vaccinated and boosted with our COVID-19 vaccines to continue building a strong wall of immunity against the virus," the DOH said in a separate statement.

In his first State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government will no longer impose another lockdown to control the spread of the virus.