The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday reported 497 new recoveries and 4,084 additional cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Recoveries are now at 2,779,241 or 97.3 percent of the total 2,855,819 infections since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Active cases rose to 24,992, of which 19,552 are mild, 3,051 are moderate, 795 are asymptomatic, 331 are critical, and 1,563 are severe.

“Of the 4,084 reported cases today (January 3), 4,057 or 99 percent occurred within the recent 14 days – December 21 to January 3, 2022,” the DOH reported.

As in the previous day, the top regions with most cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region (NCR) with 2,831 or 70 percent of new infections; Calabarzon, 571 (14 percent); and Region 3 (Central Luzon), 273 (7 percent).

The death toll has reached 51,586 with 16 new deaths, representing 1.81 percent of overall cases.

“Of the 16 deaths, 11 occurred in December 2021 (69 percent), three in October 2021 (19 percent), one in September 2021 (6 percent), and one in August 2021 (6 percent) due to late encoding of death information to COVIDKaya,” the DOH said.

COVIDKaya is a digital application used by health care workers to collect and share data about Covid-19 cases.

According to the January 1 data, about 20.7 percent of 18,587 who were tested turned out positive for Covid-19.

“Eighteen duplicates were removed from the total case count, of these, 15 are recoveries. Also, 178 cases were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count, of these, 177 are recoveries,” the DOH said.

Seven cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after validation.

Two laboratories were not operational on Jan. 1 and 21 and were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.

The DOH noted that the 23 laboratories contribute, on average, 5.1 percent of samples tested, and 5.2 percent among positive individuals based on data in the last 14 days.

To date, 23 percent of 3,400 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 23 percent of 18,600 isolation beds, 16 percent of 12,200 ward beds, and 13 percent of 2,000 ventilators are utilized by patients with Covid-19 nationwide.

Meanwhile, 29 percent of 1,200 ICU beds, 27 percent of 4,600 isolation beds, 30 percent of 3,800 ward beds, and 16 percent of 1,000 ventilators dedicated to patients with Covid-19 are in use in the NCR. (PNA)