MANILA (UPDATED) — The Philippines on Tuesday logged 937 newly-confirmed COVID-19 cases, pushing the country’s cumulative total to 479,693, data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed.

This is the 3rd straight day that the country recorded less than a thousand new COVID-19 infections, but it does not include data from 9 laboratories that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Data Repository System.

The ABS-CBN News Data Analytics has noted the low number of tests being conducted recently, resulting in fewer confirmed cases.

The health department said the surge in new infections could still be possible in the coming weeks as the number of testing lagged during the New Year's.

“The DOH reminds the public to be cautious in interpreting these numbers as an increase in cases in the coming weeks is still possible. The DOH continues to assess the extent of the effects of the holiday season on COVID-19 transmission,” it said in a bulletin.

Davao City led the areas in the country with the most number of newly-confirmed cases with 85. It is followed by Isabela with 54, Agusan del Sur with 49, Pampanga with 48, and Misamis Occidental with 43.

Of the total recorded cases, 21,997 or 4.6 percent are active infections. Some 89.9 percent of patients are asymptomatic or exhibiting mild symptoms, while 6.2 percent are critically ill, according to the DOH.

The DOH registered 58 new coronavirus-related fatalities. The death toll stood at 9,321.

Recoveries went up by 114 to 448,375. This accounts for 93.5 percent of the total recorded cases.

Meanwhile, of the 16,670 people who were tested as of Monday noon, 865 or 5.2 percent were confirmed positive for the disease, data showed.

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The DOH removed 5 duplicate cases from the total case count. A total of 4 recovered cases have been removed in the tally.

Meanwhile, a total of 4 cases initially classified as recovered turned out to be deaths.

The government earlier said it is eyeing to use 4 COVID-19 vaccines from Russia and China by the first 3 months of 2021.

Private firms in partnership with the government have also ordered an additional 3.7 to 3.8 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine, on top of the 2.6 million doses that were secured in the first batch which are expected to arrive in May.

• READ: PH gov't, private firms close to securing add'l 3.7-M doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Data from the US-based Johns Hopkins University showed that almost 86 million people globally contracted COVID-19, with the US, India, Brazil, France, and the United Kingdom (UK) having the highest number of cumulative cases as of this posting.

The UK in December last year detected a reportedly more infectious COVID-19 strain, leading some countries to impose new lockdown and travel restrictions to stem its spread.

• READ: The UK coronavirus variant: what we know

Over 1.8 million people have died while more than 48 million have recovered, according to the JHU’s running tally.