MANILA (UPDATE) - The Philippines on Thursday logged 8,773 additional COVID-19 cases, a new record-high in just 3 days, as ICU beds in the capital region fills up to a critical level in scenes reminiscent of last year's peak.

The day's tally, which does not include data from 6 laboratories, raised the country's cumulative number of infections to 693,048. It is the 8th straight day that new cases were over 5,000, according to ABS-CBN Data Analytics team.

Thursday's new COVID-19 cases surpassed the previous record of 8,019 announced by the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday.

Active cases continue to increase, hitting 99,891, also another record-high since the coronavirus outbreak hit the country over a year ago, surpassing Wednesday's tally of 91,748, according to the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group (IRG).

The number of active cases reported in previous days has been adjusted for duplicates, the IRG noted.

Although, of those still battling the diseases, only 0.8 percent are critical, another 0.8 percent are considered severely ill, and 0.44 percent are moderate cases.

The remaining 98 percent are either experiencing mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.

The virus claimed 56 more lives, raising the death toll to 13,095.

A total of 574 patients have recuperated from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 580,062. This accounts for 83.7 percent of the total number of cases.

Out of 35,480 individuals who underwent testing for COVID-19 on Wednesday noon, 16.1 percent were found to be positive for the disease.

A total of 36 duplicates, of which 23 were recoveries, have been removed from the total number of infections.

Moreover, 7 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Based on the health department's latest bulletin, 74 percent of the over 700 ICU beds in the capital region have been used up. The OCTA Research Group earlier in the day said this is already in critical level.

Sixty-six percent out of some 3,800 isolation beds for COVID-19 patients in Metro Manila have also been occupied.

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Due to the continuous increase in cases the past weeks, the government has implemented added restrictions for the so-called NCR Plus bubble, which includes Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal. Among the measures imposed is the banning of unessential travel to and from the areas until April 4.

• READ: Who can leave or enter 'NCR Plus' on Holy Week?

The DOH previously said that while the UK and South African variants may have contributed to the increase in new cases, the main cause is still non-compliance with minimum health standards.

Globally, the novel coronavirus already infected almost 125 million, with the US, Brazil, India, Russia, and France leading the countries with the most number of recorded infections, the running tally of US-based Johns Hopkins University showed.

Over 2.7 million people have succumbed to the disease, while almost 71 million have recovered.