THE Department of Health reported 603 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, the 12th straight day that less than 1,000 new infections were recorded.
The new cases brought the total to 2,834,775.
The DOH’s December 5 case bulletin also showed the country’s positivity rate at 1.8 percent, out of 35,950 tests conducted on December 3.
The DOH also reported 56 new deaths, bringing the total to 49,386 fatalities,or a case fatality rate of 1.74.
There were 1,047 new recoveries, bringing the total to 2,771,536 survivors. This means 97.8 percent of the COVID-19 patients recovered.
As to active cases, the DOH said 13,853 which account for 0.5 percent of the COVID-19 cases in the country.
Of the active cases, 5,532 are mild, 3,903 are moderate, 2,410 are severe, 1,270 are asymptomatic, and 738 are critical cases.
Amid the threat of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega called for a 100 percent vaccine coverage.
“There are growing number of strains so we need to increase the herd immunity. From the 90 percent, if possible, 100 percent of the population must be vaccinated,” said Vega. “The more vaccinated individuals, the better protection everyone will have against COVID-19, against variants of concern.”
The government’s initial vaccination goal was 70 percent of the population, then raised it to 90 percent in September amid the threat of the Delta variant.
The government targets to fully vaccinate 54 million individuals by the end of the month.
The threat of the Omicron variant emerged last month, with the World Health Organization declaring it as a variant of concern.
Based on DOH data, about 38 million individuals have been fully vaccinated, around 53 million have received the first dose, and 465,354 fully vaccinated individuals have received booster shots.
Government is holding another three-day national vaccination program starting on December 15.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said there is no need to declare December 15 to 17 as special national vaccination days as employers have been asked not to mark their employees as absent if they are being vaccinated on those days, or even scheduled to be vaccinated at any other day this December. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
