MANILA (UPDATE)— The Philippines on Saturday recorded 6,959 more COVID-19 cases, with deaths reaching over 100 for the fifth straight day, the health department said.

The Department of Health's (DOH) latest bulletin showed that the country now has 1,353,220 total confirmed COVID-19 infections, with 59,439 or 4.4 percent of patients still battling the disease.

A total of 170 recovered cases have been reclassified as active cases after the agency's revalidation.

Out of 50,104 people who underwent testing for COVID-19 on Thursday, 11.5 percent were found to be carriers of the virus.

This is considered the lowest since May 30, according to ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido.

There were 153 more COVID-related deaths, raising the virus death toll in the country to 23,538.

Saturday's case fatality rate is at 1.74 percent.

The day's deaths also included 97 cases initially classified as recoveries. The total rose by 9,407 to 1,270,243 or 93.9 percent of the cumulative total.

A total of 15 duplicates have been excluded from the running tally, 12 of which are recovered cases.

Six laboratories were not able to submit testing results on time.

Globally, COVID-related deaths already passed 4 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally.

It took over a year for the COVID-19 death toll to hit 2 million, while the next 2 million were recorded in just 166 days, according to a Reuters analysis.

According to US-based Johns Hopkins University, the virus already infected 177.8 million people worldwide, with US, India, Brazil, France, and Turkey leading the countries with most cases.

- With a report from Reuters

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