The daily average of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases went up by 22 percent for the period Sept. 19 to 25, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Monday.

From 2,101 per day recorded from Sept. 12 to 18, the number increased to 2,556 daily in the recent week.

The latest case bulletin showed there were 17,891 new cases and 242 verified deaths.

Of the additional deaths, the DOH said 29 occurred from Sept. 5 to 18.

In the same period, two cases were added to the tally of severe and critical infections, which went up to 790 from the previous week’s 772.

Only 22.9 percent or 576 out of the 2,514 intensive care unit (ICU) beds are in use, while 27.8 percent or 5,851 of 21,078 non-ICU beds are utilized.

To date, about 73,017,553 or 93.49 percent of the country’s target population (78,100,578) are vaccinated against Covid-19, including 78.36 percent of 8,721,357 senior citizens.

As of Sept. 25, a total of 19,211,908 have received booster shots out of the fully vaccinated population. (PNA)