DOH logs 263 new COVID-19 cases

FILE PHOTO Two young men get their first jabs at SM Megamall during the National Vaccination Day on Nov. 29. —NIñO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines logged 263 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, driving the overall case count to 2,837,730.

The  Department of Health (DOH) said that Metro Manila is the top region with COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks, followed by Calabarzon, and Zamboanga Peninsula.

The DOH likewise recorded 390 fresh recoveries and 45 additional fatalities. These figures raise the total recoveries and deaths to 2,777,354 and 50,784, respectively.

Meanwhile, nine of the 45 deaths happened within the month, one in November, 17 in October, three in September, four in August, three in July, one in June, three in August 2020, one each in July, June, May, and March in 2020.

Of the fresh infections recorded, 177 occurred from December 7 to 20.

Active cases stood at 9,592.

The DOH said that 0.8 percent of the 28,438 COVID-19 tests conducted on December 18 yielded positive results.

The DOH noted that four laboratories were non-operational on December 18. Only 13 laboratories submitted data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.

Further, the health agency noted that five duplicates, which are recoveries, were removed from the total COVID-19 cases. Also pulled out from the tally are 105 cases found to have tested negative from the coronavirus.

Thirty-five cases, previously tagged as recoveries, were reclassified as fatalities after final validation, DOH added.

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