Philippines' total COVID-19 deaths breach 24,000

MANILA (UPDATE) —Deaths due to COVID-19 in the Philippine surpassed the 24,000-mark on Thursday, as the health department also announced over 6,000 new infections. 

The country now has 24,036 total COVID-19 deaths, after recording 108 more fatalities. 

According to the health department, the day's deaths included 61 cases first classified as recoveries. 

The fatality rate was at 1.74 percent. 

The country's total recorded cases climbed by 6,043 to 1,378,260. 

The ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group the day's fresh cases is the highest in 5 days.

Active infections reached 51,410, comprising 3.7 percent of the running tally. 

A total 44 recoveries have been validated as active infections, the DOH said.

The number of active cases rose after 6 days of decline, up by 1,449 from Wednesday's 49,961, according to the ABS-CBN IRG. 

Out of 46,497 people who got screened for COVID-19 on Tuesday, 12 percent were found positive for the virus, below 13 percent for the fourth straight day, ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido said.

Meanwhile, recoveries increased by 4,486 to 1,302,814. The total number of recoveries accounts for 94.5 percent of the country's recorded cases.

According to the ABS-CBN IRG, the newly-announced recoveries is the lowest in 6 days. 

A laboratory failed to submit data on time. 

The country is currently in the fourth month of its COVID-19 inoculation program amid delivery delays and vaccine supply shortage.

Based on ABS-CBN News' monitoring, the government already administered 8.928 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Tuesday, of which 6,681,352 are considered first shots. 

A total of 2,246,897 individuals, meanwhile, are fully vaccinated against the disease, accounting for 3.87 percent of the minimum 58 million government target for the year to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus.