Add'l deaths lowest in over 2 weeks - ABS-CBN research group

MANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippines on Tuesday recorded 4,516 additional COVID-19 infections, the fewest in nearly a week, as the health department confirmed active cases of the more contagious Delta variant first detected in India.

In its latest bulletin, the Department of Health (DOH) said that of the 1,517,903 total recorded cases in the country, 46,806 or 3.1 percent are active.

The ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group (IRG) said the day's newly-reported cases is the lowest in 6 days or since July 14, when DOH posted 3,806 additional infections.

Cases are historically fewer on Tuesdays due to the lower number of tests being done over the weekend, the ABS-CBN Data Analytics had pointed out.

The day's positivity rate is at 10.9 percent, based on the samples of 34,562 individuals who underwent testing for the virus on Sunday.

COVID-related deaths rose to 26,844 with 58 new fatalities, considered the lowest since July 5 this year, when 43 deaths were announced, the ABS-CBN IRG noted.

The case fatality rate stood at 1.77 percent.

The freshly-reported deaths included 30 cases first classified as recoveries, the DOH noted.

Meanwhile, there were 5,240 more people who recuperated from the respiratory disease, raising the country's total recoveries to 1,444,253 or 95.1 percent of the cumulative tally.

A total of 9 duplicates have been excluded from the running tally, 6 of which were recoveries, according to the agency.

Ten laboratories failed to submit data on time.

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Earlier in the day, the health department said 8 Filipinos who have supposedly recovered from the highly contagious Delta variant tested positive again for the coronavirus, based on their latest RT-PCR results.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said of the 8 active Delta variant cases, 4 are in Cagayan de Oro, 1 is in Manila, another 1 is in Misamis Oriental, while 2 others are returning Filipinos.

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Despite limited coronavirus jabs, the government has been able to administer at least 15 million doses, of which nearly 10.4 million are first doses as of Sunday.

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Some 4.7 million, meanwhile, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 8.12 percent of the minimum 58 million target by the end of the year, data collated by the ABS-CBN IRG showed.