The number of new Covid-19 cases continues to decline nationwide with an average daily case of 224 for the week of April 12 to 18, a health official said Tuesday.

The recent average is 17 percent lower than last week’s 271, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online media forum.

The country’s total tally of new cases for the same week is 1,571.

“Sa kasalukuyang bilang ng ating (In our current number of our) active cases, 18,672 [for] the asymptomatic or has mild symptoms while the number of severe and critical cases has gone down to 1,251. The positivity rate remains at 1.6 percent,” Vergeire said.

The intensive care unit utilization and total beds utilization nationwide remain at low risk.

As of April 17, the ICU utilization rate is 16 percent while the healthcare utilization rate is 17 percent.

The country has a total of 2,842 ICU beds – 450 are occupied while 2,392 are vacant.

“Patotoo po ito ng ang ating mga bakuna ay ligtas at epektibo laban sa malubhang sintomas ng Covid-19 kaya naman po magpabakuna na tayong lahat at magpa-booster na sa lalong madaling panahon parang maging protektado na sa virus (This is a testimony of our vaccines’ safety and effectiveness against the severe symptoms of Covid-19 so let’s all get vaccinated and get our boosters the soonest possible time to be protected against the virus),” Vergeire said. (PNA)