MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) has announced 45 new recoveries, a record-high, bringing the total number of recoveries to 242.

DOH said Monday there are also 284 new COVID-19 cases, bringing Philippines' total to 4,932.

Of the total number of cases since January, DOH said there are 18 new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 315.

While the DOH is no longer issuing information on individual patients, its new COVID-19 tracker website includes one male fatality whose age ranged from 0 to 4 years old.

The ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group said it was the first time that the DOH COVID-19 tracker listed a fatality that young.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also clarified that the recovered patients who have been included in the DOH tally are those who were confined in hospitals.

She said there are probably more who underwent home quarantine, especially those who are asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and have recovered.

Vergeire said they can start testing mild and asymptomatic case once the country’s accredited laboratories are able to, but for now, severe and critical cases will be prioritized.

“Atin din pong gustong ipaalam sa lahat we keep track of all these people who are recovering sa bahay. Ginagawan na natin ng bilang ngayon para mabigay din natin na datos,” she said.

(We want to inform everyone that we keep track of all these people who are recovering at home. We are also making a tally so we can release the data.)

Before April, there were only 49 COVID-19 recoveries and before a week ago, new recoveries reported daily were only in the single digits.

Earlier DOH data analyzed by the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group showed that confirmed COVID-19 patients on average took 3 weeks to recover.

• READ: COVID-19 recoveries in PH: 42 pct have pre-existing conditions, 35 pct elderly

Vergeire herself has said that mild cases often require 2 weeks of recovery while severe and critical cases take 3 to 6 weeks.

The health official also told the public not to be alarmed if the number of confirmed cases increases, given the expanded COVID-19 testing.

By Tuesday, April 14, the government will start its expanded COVID-19 testing to cover more patients.

• READ: DOH to deploy 300 volunteer medical lab workers for expanded COVID-19 testing

As of Sunday, there were still 2,841 COVID-19 patients admitted in hospitals.