MANILA, Philippines — The number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines is close to hitting the 140,000-mark, according to the latest data released by the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday.
The DOH said that an additional 2,987 recorded infections increased the country’s caseload to 139,538.
Of the new cases, 1,510 were recorded in Metro Manila, 398 were from Cavite, 144 from Laguna, 135 from Iloilo and 119 from Cebu.
The DOH added that the new cases consisted of 1,290 fresh cases, as well as 1,697 late cases.
An additional 280 recovered cases were recorded, bringing the total number of recoveries to 68,432.
There were also 19 deaths recorded, with the total number of COVID-19 fatalities now at 2,312.
The department noted that there were 87 duplicates that were removed from the total case count. Of this number, four recovered cases were removed.
The DOH added that three cases initially reported as recoveries were later updated as fatalities upon verification. The three deaths were added to the number of fatalities.[ac]