MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night said with the Philippines having a low mortality rate from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the country has nothing to worry about even if its number of the confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to rise.

"You will see that the Philippines, ratio and proportion, vis-a-vis with the population, we have a low rate of mortality here in this country," Duterte said in a televised briefing.

"All in all, para sa akin, hindi naman masama ito (All in all, for me, there is nothing wrong with it)," he added.

As of 4 p.m Thursday, the Philippines reported 539 new COVID-19 cases, the highest number reported in a single day since the pandemic started.

It brought the total of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 15,588, with 921 deaths and 3,598 recoveries so far.

The Philippines has a current estiimated population of around 108 million, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

• As gov't prepares to relax lockdown, PH logs record 539 new COVID-19 cases

In the same briefing, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the spike in cases is due to the increase in the number of validated cases.

He also said that there are still some laboratories that have difficulties in their validating process.

"Kumpara po sa mga nakaraang araw, ay ang trend ng mga bilang ng kaso ay tumaas, ngunit dahil po ito sa patuloy na pagtaas ng mga kasong ating nava-validate," Duque said.

(Compared to the other days, the trend in the number of cases is still rising, but this is due to the increasing number of validated cases.)

Duque also said 90 percent of the COVID-19 cases in the country are mild cases, with the severe to critical cases at only less than 2 percent.

"Tumaas man po ang ating kaso, pero sa pangkalahatan naman, ang mild cases po natin ay nasa 90 percent, at 7.3 percent naman ang asymptomatic, 'yung wala pong nararamdamang sakit, at less than 2 percent naman po ang severe to critical cases," he explained.

(Even if the number of cases increased, as a whole, 90 percent of the cases are mild cases, and 7.3 percent of the cases are asymptomatic, those who do not show symptoms, and less than 2 percent are severe to critical cases.)

Duque also said the country has sufficient medical capacity to combat the pandemic.

"Around mga 60 plus percent reserve capacity in terms of available mechanical ventillators, available intensive care units and also our isolation beds," he said.

Duterte, in th esame briefing, announced that Metro Manila will transition to a more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ) starting June 1, following a 2-month lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Other areas that will be placed under GCQ from June 1 are regions 2, 3, 4A, Pangasinan, Albay and Davao City, he said.

• Duterte: Metro Manila transitions to general quarantine on June 1