MANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippines on Saturday reported 11,101 more COVID-19 cases, pushing the country's cumulative tally to 926,052, with active cases breaching the 200,000 mark.

The remaining 203,710 active infections are considered a record-high not only in the country but in Southeast Asia as well since the pandemic began over a year ago, according to the ABS-CBN Data Analytics team.

Saturday's figure is considered the 8th highest single-day tally, data analytics head Edson Guido said. This is also the 3rd straight day that new coronavirus infections exceeded 10,000.

Of those still battling the disease, 96 percent are experiencing mild symptoms, 2.9 percent are asymptomatic, 0.5 percent are severely ill, while 0.4 percent are critically ill.

The Department of Health (DOH) recorded 72 COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the country's death toll due to the virus to 15,810.

This is the first time in 9 days that new deaths counted fewer than 100. Deaths ranged from 137 to 401 between April 9 and April 16.

Recoveries increased by 799 to 706,532. This accounts for 76.3 percent of the country's cumulative tally.

Out of 43,574 individuals who underwent testing for COVID-19 on Friday noon, some 17.7 percent were found positive for the disease.

A total of 20 duplicate cases have been excluded from the overall tally, of which 8 were recoveries.

Some 16 cases initially tagged as recoveries were also reclassified as deaths after the agency's final validation.

Nine DOH-accredited laboratories failed to submit results on time.

Meanwhile, intensive care unit (ICU) beds dedicated for COVID-19 are at 67 percent utilization rate nationwide, those in Metro Manila are already 85 percent occupied, the DOH said.

Likewise, isolation beds across the country are 50 percent filled up, while the same beds are at 62 percent occupied in Metro Manila.

'MECQ NOT STOPPING VIRUS SPREAD'

Prof. Guido David of the OCTA Research group earlier expressed concern that the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and 4 nearby provinces might not be stemming the spread of COVID-19 as cases continued to climb.

• READ: OCTA fellow raises concern MECQ may not be working as COVID cases continue to rise

David said the positive growth rate has again been observed in Metro Manila with the easing of the quarantine restriction.

As of April 13, the Philippines administered only over 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses after more than a month of rollout.

This is still far from the target of 70 million by the end of the year, which the health department said is needed to reach herd immunity.

RELATED VIDEO:

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv