4,444 new cases bring PH COVID-19 tally to 143,749

MANILA, Philippines — An additional 4,444 patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shot up the Philippines’ caseload to 143,749, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

The latest data from the DOH showed that of the total number of cases, 72,348 are considered as “active” cases.

Of the additional number of cases, 2,618 were from Metro Manila, 233 were from Laguna, 227 were from Cavite, 174 from Rizal and 129 from Bulacan.

The DOH said that of the new cases, 3,049 were tagged as “fresh” cases while 1,395 were “late” cases.

There were also 636 new recovered cases recorded, bringing the total number of recoveries to 68,997.

However, the country’s COVID-19 death toll is now at 2,404 after 93 new deaths were recorded.

The DOH noted that it has removed 231 duplicates — of which nine were recovered cases and one death — from the total case count.

“In addition, two cases were found to be negative and were removed from the total case count after final validation,” the DOH said.

“Moreover, we updated the health status of the 62 cases that were previously reported as recovered but after final validation, they were 60 deaths and two active cases,” it added.

JE