16,621 new COVID-19 cases in PH push active count to 146,510

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 16,621 new COVID-19 cases brought the total active cases to 146,510 on Thursday—a still high number as the country battles a fresh surge of cases due to the Delta variant.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), the active cases now comprise 7.3 percent of the 2,020,484 confirmed infections in the country.

Meanwhile, the DOH recorded 10,965 new recoveries, raising to 1,840,294 the total number of patients who have recovered from the disease. However, another 148 deaths brought the death count to 33,680.

Some 26.9 percent of 60,973 people who were tested were found positive for coronavirus on Tuesday.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational on Tuesday but five were not able to submit their data on time. Based on data in the last two weeks, the non-reporting labs contribute 0.9 percent of samples tested and 0.9 percent of positive individuals on average.

The department also removed 92 duplicates, including 78 recoveries and one death, from the total case count. Sixty-six cases that were earlier tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

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