1,148 new coronavirus infections push PH total caseload to 410,718

In this file photo, a woman gets a swab test for the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 on October 7, 2020, in Manila City. INQUIRER/RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s total COVID-19 cases reached 410,718 on Tuesday after the Department of Health (DOH) announced 1,148 additional infections.

In its daily COVID-19 case bulletin, DOH also reported 186 additional recoveries and 23 fatalities, bringing their respective totals to 374,543 and 7,862.

Excluding recoveries and deaths, 28,313 are deemed active cases or those who are still recovering from the respiratory disease, according to DOH. This accounts for only 6.9% of the overall tally.

DOH explained that the relatively lower number of additional cases is attributed to the lower laboratory submission compliance (81.33%) for Nov. 15 compared to the previous day (90.91%), and the previous week (88.27%).

For Nov. 15, only 135 out of the 166 accredited laboratories submitted their data. Majority (18/31) of the non-submitting labs were unable to submit as they had no operations last Sunday, while four were just recently-accredited.

There were four duplicate cases that were removed from the previous tally, one of them was tagged as a recovery, DOH also said.

“Moreover, eight (8) cases previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths,” it said.

KGA