MANILA (UPDATE) — The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines reached almost 13,000 on Tuesday as 224 new infections were recorded.

In its latest bulletin, the health department said coronavirus infections in the country rose to 12,942 since the country logged its first case in late January.

Of the new cases, 174 (78%) are from the National Capital Region, the epicenter of the outbreak in the country.

There were also 17 (7%) new cases from Region 7 or Central Visayas, and 33 (15%) from other regions. Region 7, which includes Cebu City, had been recording higher numbers of cases starting this month as the disease infiltrated jails there.

According to DOH data analyzed by the ABS-CBN Data Analytics team, the other regions with new COVID-19 cases are: Central Luzon (14 cases), Calabarzon (12), Soccsksargen (4) and Bicol (1 from Sorsogon). There are also two repatriates who tested positive.

Of the 174 new cases from NCR, 40 are from Quezon City, 17 from Valenzuela, 12 from Taguig, 11 from Makati and 53 have locations that are for validation.

Meanwhile, the DOH said 114 more patients recovered from the disease, raising the total recoveries to 2,843.

Only 6 new COVID-related deaths were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 837. This is the third straight day that new fatalities was in the single digit.

There have been 4.8 million people infected with COVID-19 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, almost 1.8 million have recovered while 318,000 have died.