The department said it removed 10 duplicate cases from the tally, including six survivors.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 20) — More than 12,000 patients in the country have died from the coronavirus disease, after 239 newly reported fatalities, the Department of Health said on Saturday.
The latest DOH case bulletin said the death toll is now at 12,068, which is 2.16% of the case count, but it clarified that 167 of the new deaths were mistakenly reported as recoveries in the previous tally. The latest death count is the second highest number of fatalities logged in a day since Sept. 14 when the country had 259 casualties.
The total number of infections jumped to 559,288 with 2,240 new cases. It is the second time in just over a week that the country listed more than 2,000 cases in a day.
There are also 34,100 active or currently sick patients, equivalent to 6.1% of the COVID-19 total. Meanwhile, 504 have gotten well, raising the number of survivors to 513,120 or 91.7% of the case count.
Data from six laboratories were not included in the tally due to late submission of reports, the DOH said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs also reported that four more overseas Filipinos caught COVID-19, which raised the total to 14,791 in 87 countries. Of this number, 3,635 cases have been verified by the DOH, the DFA said. Three Filipinos also died, while seven others were cured. The death toll rose to 1,012 and the recovery count to 9,301. There are also 4,478 undergoing treatment.
