MANILA (UPDATE)— The Philippines recorded 5,389 more COVID-19 cases, just as the health department announced a worrying surge in infections in the Visayas, which already outpaced the virus growth in other parts of the country.

The Philippines now has 1,327,431 total recorded infections, with active cases reaching 58,063 or 4.4 percent of the total, according to the Department of Health's (DOH) 4 p.m. bulletin.

The DOH said there were 304 cases first tagged as recoveries but were found to be active infections after their revalidation.

According to the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group, the day's new cases is the lowest announced in a week or since June 8, when the DOH logged 4,777 infections.

The research unit added that the number of those still battling the disease is the fewest in 5 days or since June 10 this year, when 58,004 active cases were registered.

The number of active cases recorded previously was adjusted for duplicate cases.

Fresh cases usually dip during Tuesdays and Wednesdays due to a fewer number of laboratories operating over the weekend, the ABS-CBN Data Analytics team had said.

Meanwhile, the virus claimed 118 more lives, bringing the nation's death toll to 22,963.

Sixty-five cases initially tagged as recovered turned out to be fatalities after the agency's final validation.

Tuesday's case fatality rate is at 1.73 percent.

• READ: 'People are dying': Lawmaker seeks additional vaccines in Visayas, Mindanao amid COVID spike

Those who recovered from the disease increased by 6,667 to 1,246,405, accounting for 93.9 percent of the country's total recorded cases.

The day's positivity rate is at 13.9 percent, based from the test results of 30,472 individuals who were screened for the virus on Sunday.

A total 9 duplicates have been excluded from the running tally. Of those, 4 were recoveries.

The DOH also pointed out that 2 cases were found negative for COVID-19, of which 1 is a recovery, thus being removed from the cumulative total.

Sixteen laboratories failed to submit data on time.

Health authorities earlier in the day noted that aside from the spike in COVID-19 infections in the Visayas, the pandemic situation in Metro Manila and 8 other provinces and areas (Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao) remain "fragile."

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night extended partial COVID-19 lockdowns in the capital region and its nearby provinces until the end of the month.

Some areas, meanwhile, were reverted to stricter lockdowns due to the rise in cases and critical hospital occupancy.

The Philippines has so far been able to administer at least 6.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Sunday.

• Philippines: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

The government aims to vaccinate at least 58 million of its 108 million population to achieve herd immunity and safely reopen the economy.

Worldwide, the novel coronavirus has already infected 176.2 million people, of whom over 3.8 million have died, data from US-based Johns Hopkins University showed.

- With reports from Reuters

RELATED VIDEO:

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv