Philippines registers 21,261 new COVID-19 cases as active tally nears 178K

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reported 21,261 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, bringing the total tally to 2,304,192, as two laboratories failed to submit data on time.

According to the DOH, this brought the country’s active cases to 177,946.

Of this, 86.1% are mild, 9.2% are asymptomatic, 1.4% are severe, and 0.6% are in critical condition.

Meanwhile, total recoveries climbed to 2,090,228 with 13,644 new recoveries.

The DOH also announced that the death toll climbed to 36,018 after 277 more patients succumbed to the illness, the highest since August 25.

A total of 80 duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count.

“Moreover, 174 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the DOH said.

Based on reports on September 16, the Philippines was also able to test 74,149 individuals, of which 27% tested positive for the illness.

The OCTA Research group said the reproduction number in Metro Manila continues to improve as it slipped further to 1.28 for the period covering September 9 to 15.—LDF, GMA News