MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday, January 6, reported 17,220 new COVID-19 infections, the highest since September 27, when there were 18,449 cases reported.

Thursday’s cases bring the total caseload in the country to 2,888,917. Of the total cases, 2% or 56,561 remain active or currently sick. This is also the highest since October 25, when 57,763 were recorded.

The DOH also recorded 81 deaths. The total death toll due to COVID-19 in the country now stands at 51,743.

Meanwhile, recoveries were up by 616 for a total of 2,780,613.

The DOH reported a positivity rate of 36.9% out of 58,847 tests conducted. These positive cases were added to the tally of confirmed cases only after further validation. This process helps ensure cases would not be recorded in duplicate, and that all test results had been submitted, explained the department.

A positivity rate of 36.9%, which is way above than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 5% benchmark, means that more than one in three people tested turned out positive for COVID-19.

The DOH said all testing hubs were operational on Tuesday, January 4, while 11 laboratories were not able to submit their data on time. The cases reflected in the bulletin were based on tests conducted two days ago.

Octa Research Group, who has been studying the coronavirus pandemic, projected that COVID-19 cases in the country may breach the 20,000-mark on Friday, January 7.

On Thursday, the DOH also reported 29 new cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, including 19 local cases from Metro Manila. This was part of the 48 samples that underwent genome sequencing on January 2. – Rappler.com