MANILA — The number of patients who recovered from COVID-19 in the Philippines went up by 52, the Department of Health said Friday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 487.

At the same time, the number of new deaths remained relatively low at 25. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 387 fatalities in the Philippine due to COVID-19.

Since April 15, the total number of recoveries have exceeded the number of fatalities.

Meanwhile, the DOH reported 218 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the cumulative number of cases to 5,878.

The DOH said on Thursday that Filipinos should expect the number of recoveries to continue to rise as a number of COVID-19 patients have already been sent home for another 14-day quarantine and are just awaiting a repeat test to show that they are already negative of the disease.

• READ: New COVID-19 recoveries reach daily record high at 82; new cases up by 207

As of Friday, over 2.1 million people have contracted COVID-19 in 185 countries around the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 500,000 people have recovered while more than 145,000 have died.