MANILA - The Philippines on Monday announced 6,684 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country's total to 1,230,301.

The Department of Health (DOH) also reported 6,098 new recoveries and 107 additional deaths due to the disease.

Active cases stood at 54,290, or 4.4 percent of the total recorded infections.

There are now 1.155 million people in the country who recovered from COVID-19, while a total of 20,966 succumbed to the disease, the DOH said in its latest bulletin.

The number of new cases is the lowest in 4 days or since May 27's 6,483, according to ABS-CBN's Investigative and Research Group.

The number of recoveries is also the lowest in 3 days, while the death toll is the lowest in 6 days, it added.

While all laboratories were operational on May 29, three were unable to submit data to to the COVID-19 Document Repository System, the DOH said.

"Fifty-seven cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation," it said.

The downward trend of cases in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces slowed down between May 24 and 30, about a week since the lockdown restriction was eased to general community quarantine, according to data from OCTA research group.

"The decrease in new cases slowed down, with NCR showing one week growth rate of just -1 percent, compared with -23 percent, -27 percent and -36 percent in the previous weeks," the group said in its May 31 bulletin.

The provinces of Cavite and Laguna recorded "slight increases" in new cases at 6 percent and 4 percent, respectively, OCTA said.

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The DOH is also monitoring rising cases of COVID-19 in Visayas and Mindanao, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

She denied a third wave of the pandemic in the country, and said government is observing the rise in cases there.

"Dati pa ho natin mino-monitor ang mga lugar na ito," she said, referring to several regions in the Visayas and Mindanao that have been reporting more cases in recent weeks.

(We have been monitoring these areas.)

"As early as now, talagang binibigyan na ng adequate support ang mga lugar na ito so they can expand the capacity of hospitals and their testing capacity," she said.

(As early as now, we are really giving these areas adequate support so they can expand the capacity of hospitals and their testing capacity.)

As of May 30, there are 10,497 active COVID-19 cases in Mindanao, while Visayas has 7,352, according to data from the DOH.

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Several Filipinos are still hesitant to be inoculated against COVID-19 over fears that the vaccines would produce harmful side effects, Vergeire said, citing a DOH study involving 43,000 participants.

The DOH held at least 75 townhall meetings to further encourage the public that COVID-19 vaccines are generally safe, the official said.

So far, the Philippines has been inoculating around 150,000 people a day, said Vergeire.

"We have increased 25 times more than what we were doing when we started vaccinating," she said.

The Philippines needs to vaccinate about 500,000 people a day to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said in March.

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As of May 30, the Philippines has administered 5.12 million doses of the 8.32 million jabs that have arrived in the country. The government rolled out its vaccination program on March 1.

Some 1.18 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 3.9 million others have received their first dose.

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