Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 24) — New COVID-19 cases nationwide reached 6,666 on Wednesday, as the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic topped 13,000.
The Department of Health said the new figures brought the tally of infections to 684,311. Of this number, 13.4% or 91,754 are active cases or currently ill patients — an all-time high. The department also noted the update excludes data from seven testing laboratories which have yet to submit their latest report.
Of those currently ill, 95.3% exhibit mild symptoms, 2.5% have no symptoms, 0.8% are critical cases, 0.9% are severe, and 0.46% are moderate.
The viral disease also killed 47 more people, pushing the death toll to 13,039. This represents 1.91% of the case tally.
Recoveries, on the other hand, hit 579,518 — or 84.7% of all those infected — after 1,072 more got well.
After final validation, the DOH reclassified as deaths 11 cases previously reported as recoveries, and removed eight duplicates, including four recoveries, from the total case count.
The DOH, meanwhile, recorded a daily positivity rate of 15.3% as of noon of March 23. This refers to the percentage of those infected out of all tested in a single day. The World Health Organization recommends that the number be kept below 5%, and experts said a higher percentage suggests more widespread transmission and that there are likely more cases which have not yet been detected.
Among Filipinos abroad, the tally rose by three to 16,009, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Recoveries remained at 9,702 while fatalities are also still at 1,057. Active cases are at 5,260.
Infections worldwide have climbed to 124.2 million, with around 2.7 million deaths and 70.4 million survivors, data from the Johns Hopkins University showed.
