MANILA (2nd UPDATE) — The Philippines on Wednesday recorded 8,122 more COVID-19 cases, with deaths counting more than a hundred for the 6th straight day, amid eased quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

This raised the country's total number of infections to 892,880. It was also the second straight day that new cases were less than 10,000, while active cases jumped to 173,047.

The health department said Wednesday's relatively low number of cases was because of the low testing output of laboratories on Monday, April 12.

ABS-CBN Data Analytics Head Edson Guido had said earlier that the number of new cases dips on Tuesdays and Wednesdays due to fewer laboratories operating during the weekends.

The remaining active infections to date is the 3rd highest since the pandemic reached the Philippines over a year ago, according to the ABS-CBN's Investigative and Research Group (IRG).

Some 96.3 percent of people still battling the virus have mild symptoms, 2.4 percent are asymptomatic, 0.5 percent are severely ill, while 0.4 percent are critically ill.

The coronavirus, meanwhile, claimed 162 more lives, pushing the country's death toll due to the virus to 15,447.

ABS-CBN's IRG also noted that the day's fatalities is the 10th highest number of deaths announced in a single day, following 186 deaths on Sept. 12, 2020.

Except for the dates April 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8, the country has been logging more than a hundred new deaths daily in the past 2 weeks, even peaking at a record 401 — the highest since the pandemic began — on April 9.

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Recoveries, on the other hand, increased by 501 to 704,386. This accounts for 78.9 percent of the country's total recorded cases.

Out of 39,796 individuals who underwent testing for COVID-19 on Tuesday noon, some 19.5 percent were found positive for the disease.

Twenty-five duplicates have been excluded from the overall tally, according to the Department of Health. It said that 14 of those were recoveries while 1 was a fatality.

A total of 64 cases initially classified as recoveries turned out to be deaths after the agency's final validation.

The day's tally does not include results from 12 laboratories that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS) on Tuesday, the DOH said.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier in the day said the country has yet to see a decline in new COVID-19 infections, as the relatively fewer cases reported on Tuesday was due to the limited number of laboratories that operated on Sunday.

Virus clusters remained in communities, she said, noting that cases are also increasing in closed institutions such as jails and nursing homes.

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HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION RATE

Based on DOH's latest bulletin, 88 percent out of some 700 dedicated COVID-19 intensive care units (ICU) in Metro Manila are already filled up, while 65 percent of some 3,800 isolation beds in the region are likewise occupied.

Some 63 percent out of 800 ventilators are currently being used in Metro Manila, the bulletin also showed.

Nationwide, 68 percent out of the 1,900 ICUs are already utilized, while half of the 13,500 isolation beds are also filled.

Ventilators across the country are 47-percent in use.

The government has been criticized for its supposed slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

The country is also struggling to get a hold of fresh and immediate vaccine supplies from other manufacturers amid the surge of infections in pandemic epicenter Metro Manila and 4 nearby provinces, home to over 24 million Filipinos.

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Malacañang earlier said the government has vaccinated at least 1 million people against COVID-19. This is still far from the target 70 million this year to achieve herd immunity.

— With a report from Kristine Sabillo, ABS-CBN News​