A medical technician takes samples from a chamber inside a lab for processing Covid-19 RT-PCR tests in Marikina City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. The Philippines has one of Asia’s lowest vaccination rates, with only about half of its population receiving two shots, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. Its limited and costly testing apparatus, fragmented tracing program and fragile health system have made it hard to stamp out outbreaks despite several economically devastating lockdowns. - Bloomberg
MANILA, Jan 22 (Xinhua): The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 30,552 new Covid-19 infections on Saturday, raising the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,387,524.
The number of active cases decreased to 280,619 from a record of 291,618 on Friday.
The country's positivity rate rose further to 45.1 percent from 44 percent the previous day.
The DOH said 97 more people died from Covid-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 53,406.
The Philippines is grappling with the fourth wave of infections amid the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
The country reported the highest single-day tally on Jan. 15 with 39,004 new cases.
The country, which has around 110 million population, has tested so far more than 24 million people. - Xinhua
