Amid the threat of the Delta variant, the number of new cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) reached 11,021 on Saturday.

This is the second straight day the country recorded more than 10,000 cases of the virus as Friday’s new number of Covid-19 cases was at 10,623, the highest since April.

This, as the number of patients who recovered from Covid-19 reached 9,194 bringing total recoveries to 1.544 million.

The Department of Health (DOH) said this makes up at least 93.6 percent of the total cases recorded since the pandemic began.

Those undergoing treatment, meanwhile, ballooned to 76,063 with the 11,021 new infections.

“Maaaring makita natin ang mataas na bilang ng kaso sa susunod na mga araw. Ang mga trend sa susunod na araw at linggo ay depende sa aksyon na gagawin ng gobyerno, LGU at bawat isa sa atin (We may see a spike in cases in the coming days. The trend on this period would depend on the actions taken by the government),” the DOH said.

“Tandaan natin na laging sumunod sa minimum public health standards at magpabakuna kapag tayo ay nabigyan na ng pagkakataon (We must remember to always follow the minimum public health standards and get vaccinated as soon as possible),” it added.

The DOH said 162 more Covid-19 patients also died of the disease, raising the death toll to 28,835.

As of this posting, the confirmed cases of Covid-19 since March 2020 have reached 1,649,341, at least 4.6 percent are active cases while 1.75 percent are fatalities.

Out of the over 70,000 active cases, 93 percent are mild, 3 percent are asymptomatic, 1 percent critical, 1.8 percent severe, and 1.19 are moderate.

Based on the 56,636 tests on Aug. 5, data showed that 19.1 percent or 10,817 were positive for the virus.

At least three laboratories failed to submit their data at the Covid-19 Document Repository System (CDRS).

According to DOH, these three contributed to about 0.3 percent of all the samples tested over the past 14 days, including 0.3 percent of the positive individuals.

Nationwide, 62 percent of the 3,700 intensive care unit (ICU) beds are occupied, including 54 percent of 19,700 isolation beds and 55 percent of 12,800 ward beds that are allocated for Covid-19 patients.

In the National Capital Region, around 59 percent of its 1,200 ICU beds, 54 percent of 4,600 isolation beds, and 53 percent of 3,700 ward beds are utilized.

While the government has yet to declare a community transmission of Delta in the country, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire admitted during Laging Handa presser that this variant is likely driving the spike in the number of cases.

Dr. Edsel Maurice Salvana, infectious diseases expert and member of the DOH Technical Advisory Group, said the growth in daily cases is expected to continue as the number of tests being done increases as well.

“Delta is also more transmissible so there will be faster spread but this can be mitigated with quick contact tracing and testing. The positivity rate will also go up because the ones being targeted for testing have high-risk exposures and have higher pretest probabilities,” he said on his official social media page.

“Very important to continue protecting each other and do our best to keep the cases manageable. Delta is beatable if we all work together and stick to the plan,” he added.