MANILA, Philippines — The country’s active COVID-19 cases continue to decline – at 54,235 on Monday, according to the Department of Health (DOH), which also reported 5,979 new infections.
Latest data likewise indicated the recovery of 6,602 patients, driving the nationwide tally of recovered cases to 1,076,428, as well as death of 72 others raising the number of fatalities to 19,262.
All in all, DOH said, confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines was at 1,149,925 as of May 17.
The health agency further reported the removal of 17 duplicates from its COVID-19 casecount, including 11 recoveries and one death.
Moreover, 31 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation, DOH noted.
All laboratories were operational on May 15 but five labs were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 document repository system, it also said.
“Based on data in the last 14 days, the 5 non-reporting labs contribute, on average, 0.7% of samples tested and 1.0% of positive individuals,” DOH said.
On May 15 and 16, the country’s COVID-19 active cases were at 56,709 and 54,904, respectively, according to DOH.