PH’s total COVID-19 cases breach 1.3 million mark

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began reached 1,300,349 on Friday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported additional 6,686 new cases.

The latest case bulletin from the DOH showed that of the total count, there are still 61,345 COVID-19 cases or 4.7 percent that remain active.

Meanwhile, another 3,190 people have recovered from the disease, raising the number of recoveries to 1,216,497 or 93.6 percent of the tally.

There were also 196 more patients who have died, which puts the death toll at 22,507 or 1.73 percent of all the cases.

The DOH said 13.3 percent of the 49,371 people who were tested were found positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

According to DOH, 24 duplicates, including 20 recoveries and one death, were removed from the total case count. Another 127 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were also reclassified as deaths after final validation.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational on Wednesday but three labs were not able to submit their data. Based on data in the last 14 days, the three non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 0.27 percent of samples tested and 0.38 percent of positive individuals.

JE