Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 1) — New COVID-19 cases neared 9,000 on Thursday, the Department of Health reported.
Its latest bulletin showed 8,920 more people nationwide contracted the viral disease, pushing the overall tally to 756,199. Of this total, 138,948 or 18.4% are active cases, an all-time high for the third straight day.
According to the DOH, the updated count excludes data from seven testing laboratories which failed to submit their results on time.
Of the currently ill patients, 95.9% have mild symptoms, 2.5% have no symptoms, 0.6% are critical cases, another 0.6% are severe, and 0.36% are moderate.
The DOH also listed 205 new survivors as the total hit 603,948, which accounts for 79.0% of all those infected. Six more fatalities, on the other hand, brought the death toll to 13,306, or 1.76% of the case tally.
After final validation, the DOH removed nine duplicates from the official figures, including three recoveries.
The latest daily positivity rate rose to 21.1% as of noon of March 31, the bulletin also showed. This means 1 in 5 individuals tested on the same day was found positive for the coronavirus. Experts said a bigger percentage suggests higher viral transmission within the community and the need to increase testing capacity.
Among Filipinos abroad, infections have reached 16,398 with four more detected, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile, recoveries and fatalities remained unchanged at 10,048 and 1,049, respectively.
