MANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippines on Wednesday breached the 10,000-mark in its tally of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases with 320 new cases recorded, bringing the total to 10,004.

Wednesday's new case tally is the highest since April 6, when the country reported 414 new COVID-19 cases.

Of the new cases, 179 or 56 percent are from the National Capital Region, 98 or 31 percent are from Region 7 or Central Visayas, and the rest are from other regions.

There are 98 newly recovered patients, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,506. This is the second-highest number of recoveries announced in a single day since the 101 reported on Monday.

"Dahil po sa mga ganitong numero na nakikita natin, mapagtatanto natin na kahit ito'y mapanganib, ang sakit na COVID-19 ay hindi guaranteed na death sentence," Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing.

(Because of these numbers, we can say that even though COVID-19 is a dangerous disease, it is not a guaranteed death sentence.)

The number of new deaths reported meanwhile is at 21 or a total of 658 COVID-related fatalities as of Wednesday.