The Philippines posted 9,107 COVID-19 cases in the past week, the Department of Health said Monday.

The daily average of COVID-19 cases from May 29 to June 4 was 22% lower than a week earlier, according to the health department's latest bulletin. Of the new cases, 77 were severe and critical cases.

There were 554 patients in severe and critical conditions, which accounted for 10.1% of the total COVID-19 admissions in the country.

The DOH also reported that only 21.8% of 2,077 beds in intensive care units nationwide were used, while 23.2% of 18,121 non-ICU beds were occupied.

Meanwhile, the DOH has recorded 10 deaths, three of which occurred from May 22 to June 4.

Bivalent vaccines availability

The DOH announced last Saturday the arrival of 390,000 donated doses of bivalent vaccines against COVID-19 which will be used as the third booster shot for eligible populations.

According to DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, the jabs will help boost the country's protection against the original COVID-19 strain, SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

The arrival of the vaccines was delayed due to logistical issues following the World Health Organization's announcement that COVID is no longer a global health emergency.

Vergeire has said that the country has resumed negotiations with the COVAX Facility in procuring two million donated doses of bivalent vaccines, which were scheduled to arrive in March.

Other population groups may also avail of the bivalent vaccines depending on the availability of stocks, according to the health department.

As per the DOH's latest numbers, at least 78 million or 100.44% of the target population have been vaccinated against COVID-19, while 23 million individuals have received their booster shots. - Cristina Chi with reports by The STAR / Rhodina Villanueva

 

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