For the second straight day, the number of new Covid-19 infections stayed below the 19,000-mark, with 18,638 infections recorded on Friday.

(ndtv.com)

The Department of Health (DOH), in its latest Covid-19 tracker, said Friday's cases are slightly higher than Thursday's 18,191 new cases.

The new infections raised the active cases to 231,658, made up of 219,811 patients who have mild symptoms; 7,055 who are asymptomatic; 2,971 with moderate symptoms; 1,509 with severe symptoms; and 312 in critical condition.

On the other hand, the DOH reported 13,106 new recoveries, a drop from Thursday's 22,014, bringing the country's total recoveries to 3.226 million or 91.9 percent of all confirmed infections, which have reached a total of 3.511 million since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

It logged 68 new deaths, a drop from Thursday's 74, bringing the country's death toll from Covid-19 at 53,801 or 1.53 percent of all cases.

Based on the latest data on Covid-19 testing, 62,671 tests were administered on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 34.6 percent, the department added.

To date, 49 percent of 3,900 beds in intensive care units (ICU) in the whole country are occupied, along with 49 percent of 20,700 isolation beds, and 51 percent of 15,900 ward beds. About 24 percent of 3,100 ventilators are in use.

In the National Capital Region, 42 percent of 1,300 ICU beds are in use, along with 39 percent of 4,700 isolation beds, and 45 percent of 4,400 ward beds. About 24 percent of 1,000 ventilators are in use.