MANILA (UPDATE) - The Philippines on Wednesday logged 866 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest so far this year, data from the health department showed.

The positivity rate was at 4.7 percent, based on test results of samples from 23,738 individuals on Feb. 28, Monday, according to the latest Department of Health bulletin.

Of the newly reported cases, 757 or 87 percent occurred within the recent 14 days. Metro Manila (176 cases), Western Visayas (119 cases) and Central Luzon (82 cases) were the top regions with cases in the recent two weeks.

The number of additional infections is the lowest since Dec. 28, when the DOH announced 421, according to the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group.

It is also the second time this year that the daily tally went down below 1,000, following 951 cases recorded on Feb. 28, the research group said.

The Philippines has so far tallied a total of 3,663,920 cases, of which 50,827 or 1.4 percent remain active. This is the lowest number of active infections since Jan. 5 when 39,974 were logged, the ABS-CBN IRG said.

It is also the sixth lowest number of active cases this year, following 39,974 active infections tallied on Jan. 5, the research group added.

Those still infected with the virus are broken down as follows: 298 in critical condition; 1,417 severe cases; 2,776 moderately ill; 45,862 moderate cases; and 474 without symptoms.

COVID-related deaths increased by 53 to 56,504. This is the highest figure in four days or since Feb. 28, when the DOH reported 128 additional fatalities, the ABS-CBN IRG said.

Of the newly reported deaths, 23 occurred this month, two last month, one in December last year, two in November, 10 in October, five in September, two in August, one in July, two in June, and one each in March 2021, February 2021, November 2020, July 2020, and March 2020.

There were 1,622 more recoveries, raising the total number of recuperations to 3,556,589.

Five duplicates, including three recoveries, were removed from the total case count, while 46 cases previously tagged as recuperations were reclassified as deaths after final validation, the DOH said.

Eight laboratories, which contribute on average 3.8 percent of samples tested and 1.5 percent of positive cases, were unable to submit their data, the DOH said.

The intensive care unit (ICU) bed utilization rate in Metro Manila and nationwide was at 24 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

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The DOH is "prepared for the worst case scenario" after the capital region and 38 other areas in the country deescalated to the lowest alert level, according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

• Govt prepared for 'worst-case scenario' after Alert Level 1

"We are prepared for the worst-case scenario. Before we decided to deescalate, we made an analysis of the capacity of the healthcare system of the country, regionally and locally," he told ANC's Headstart.

"What we have observed during the worst of the surges, the delta, ang taas ng ating healthcare utilization and pumutok din ang ating ICU bed utilization rate. 'Yung severe and critical cases were extraordinarily high, but we managed it. That was the litmus test."

(What we have observed during the worst of the surges due to the delta variant, we had high healthcare utilization and ICU bed utilization rate. Severe and critical cases were extraordinarily, high but we managed it.)

• 'Full capacity everywhere': Manila hospitals struggle as virus surges