The daily average of new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases has increased by 7 percent from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

From 7,731 per day recorded from Nov. 21 to 27, the number went up to 8,292 daily in the recent week.

The latest case bulletin showed that there were 8,292 new cases and 156 verified deaths. Of the additional deaths, the DOH said 158 occurred from Nov. 28 to Dec. 11.

In the same period, six cases were added to the tally of severe and critical infections, which also went up to 650 from the previous week’s 595.

Only 22.4 percent or 596 out of the 2,435 intensive care unit (ICU) beds are in use, while 24 percent or 4,758 of 19,824 non-ICU beds are utilized.

To date, about 73,709,100 or 94.38 percent of the country’s target population (78,100,578) are vaccinated against Covid-19, including 79.41 percent of 8,721,357 senior citizens.

As of Dec. 11, a total of 21,038,386 have received booster shots out of the fully vaccinated population. (PNA)