MANILA — Deaths due to COVID-19 in the Philippines breached the 19,000 mark with 93 new fatalities on Saturday, as over 6,700 more cases were recorded, the health department said, just as hotspot Metro Manila and nearby provinces shifted to looser quarantine.

Saturday's fatalities pushed the country's death toll to 19,051, comprising 1.67 percent of the Philippines' cumulative tally.

This includes 36 cases initially tagged as recoveries but turned out to be deaths after the agency's final validation, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Meanwhile, there were 6,739 newly-reported infections, raising the country's overall tally to 1,138,187.

Active cases also reached 56,709.

Recoveries rose by 8,952 to 1,062,427. The total accounts for 93.3 percent of the Philippines' total recorded cases.

Nine laboratories failed to submit data on time.

Earlier in the day, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said government targets to vaccinate 120,000 people daily in the NCR Plus bubble to attain herd containment in virus epicenter Metro Manila, as more vaccines are expected to arrive in the country.

• READ: Gov't targets 120K COVID-19 vaccinations daily in NCR Plus to achieve herd immunity