MANILA — The Philippines has reported 615 additional coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, 336 of which are considered “fresh cases,” the Department of Health reported Friday.

Of the total number of new cases, 279 were classified as “late cases," are those whose test results were released four days ago or more.

Philippines meanwhile saw another record-high in COVID-19 recoveries, with 289 recovered patients reported, bringing the total number of recoveries to 5,454.

The DOH also reported on Friday 16 new COVID-related deaths, which is the highest number of deaths reported in a single day for the last 2 weeks. This brings the total number of fatalities to 1,052.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines has reached 24,787, as of Friday.

“Total cases reported may be subject to change as these numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation,” the DOH told media, as it noted that “3 duplicate cases were removed from the total cases.”

Of the 336 fresh cases, 97 are from National Capital Region and 92 are from Region 7 or Central Visayas. The remaining 147 are categorized as “Others,” which can mean that they are from other regions and their locations are still being verified.

Of the 279 late cases, 84 are from NCR, 20 from Region 7 and 10 are Filipino repatriates. Another 165 are categorized as “Others.”

Based on DOH data, the number of cases that have locations that are “for validation” started to increase in late May. DOH has yet to explain this trend. ABS-CBN

Since June 6, the Philippines has been logging larger numbers of fresh cases despite the earlier claim of the DOH that the country has been flattening the epidemic curve.

A substantial number of fresh cases have also been coming from Region 7, where there was a previous spike in cases in villages and jails.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said earlier that their Epidemiology Bureau is already investigating the cause of the spikes.

COVID-19 has so far infected 7.5 million people around the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, 3.5 million individuals have already recovered while 421,000 have died.