The Philippines on Wednesday, October 27, logged 3,218 COVID-19 cases, the lowest since May 23, when 3,083 infections were reported.

Wednesday’s cases bring the total caseload in the country to 2,768,849. Active cases also dipped to 50,152, the lowest since July 21, when there were 47,996 sick patients.

Meanwhile, deaths were up by 271, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 42,384. A total of 6,660 recoveries were added on Wednesday, raising total recoveries to 2,676,349.

According to Rappler monitoring based on the government data, the seven-day average of new cases of 4,818.71 is also the lowest since March 17, when it was 4,636.29.

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The Department of Health (DOH) reported a positivity rate of 7.6% out of 41,049 tests in its bulletin. These positive cases were added to the tally of confirmed cases only after further validation. This process helped ensure cases would not be recorded in duplicate, and that all test results had been submitted, explained the department.

The DOH said all testing hubs were operational on Monday, October 25, while one laboratory was not able to submit their data on time. The cases reflected in the bulletin were based on tests conducted two days ago.

“Based on data in the last 14 days, the one non-reporting lab contributes, on average, 0.06% of samples tested and 0.07% of positive individuals,” the DOH said.

After the record-breaking surge in infections driven by the highly-transmissible Delta variant, the DOH said on Monday, October 25 that the Philippines was now “low-risk” for COVID-19.

The DOH also announced on Wednesday that the Philippines will begin its nationwide rollout of COVID-19 vaccination among minors aged 12 to 17 on November 3.

This development comes as the country planned to gradually reopen schools for limited face-to-face classes in a pilot run approved by President Rodrigo Duterte. – Rappler.com