MANILA (UPDATE) - More than a year into the COVID-19 lockdown, the Philippines on Wednesday reported 4,387 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country’s total number of infections to 635,698.

This is the 6th straight day that newly-confirmed cases exceeded 4,000, data showed. But the day’s additional cases do not include results from six Department of Health (DOH)-accredited testing laboratories that failed to submit data on time.

ABS-CBN Data Analytics Head Edson Guido said this is the first time that the trend happened since the pandemic hit the country.

The ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group noted that the day's number of new cases is the sixth highest so far this year.

The health department earlier in the day admitted that new COVID-19 cases in the country had reached the same peak level in July last year, noting as well the rise of infections in households or offices.

With 561,099 total recoveries and 12,866 total COVID-related fatalities, active infections stood at 61,733, or 9.7 percent of the cumulative total cases.

Guido said the number of active cases in the country is the highest since Sept. 26 last year.

Some 96.8 percent of the patients still battling the disease are experiencing mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, the latest bulletin showed. A total of 1.2 percent are critically ill, while 1.3 percent are severely ill.

The DOH logged 374 additional recoveries, and 18 new deaths. It is the second straight day that additional fatalities counted fewer than 20.

The Philippine Statistics Authority earlier said that almost 28,000 died in the country last year due to COVID-19, but the DOH clarified that probable and suspect cases were included in the statistics agency’s data.

• READ: DOH: PSA’s 27k COVID death count for 2020 include suspect, probable cases

Out of 37,608 individuals who last underwent testing for COVID-19, 5,321 or 14.1 percent were found to be positive for the disease.

A total of 9 duplicate cases have been removed from the list. Six of those were found to be recoveries.

Five cases initially classified as recoveries, on the other hand, turned out to be deaths after the agency's final validation.

The OCTA Research Group this week projected that if the current trend continues, new coronavirus cases in the Philippines can reach up to 11,000 daily.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III rejected placing Metro Manila under stricter lockdown even as the region continues to log most of the newly-reported infections.

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Globally, the COVID-19 already infected almost 121 million, of whom 2.7 million have died and 68.4 million have recovered, based on US-based Johns Hopkins University's running tally.

The Philippines logged its first case on Jan. 30 last year in a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China where the disease is believed to have first emerged.