MANILA (UPDATE) - The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday reported an additional 2,019 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide total to 78,412.

This is the third straight day that the DOH announced at least 2,000 new infections, the first time it has happened since the agency began counting coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people who were given clean bill of health from COVID-19 infection climbed by 1,278 to 25,752.

The health department also reported 20 new fatalities from the contagious disease, taking the death toll to 1,897.

Latest DOH figures also showed the Philippines had 50,763 active cases, of which 89 percent exhibited mild symptoms, 9 percent were asymptomatic, 0.5 percent were in severe condition and 0.4 percent were critical.

The top 5 regions and provinces with most new COVID-19 cases were Metro Manila (1,115), Cebu (479), Cavite (90), Rizal (52) and Davao del Sur (41).

The DOH also clarified it removed 51 duplicates from the nationwide caseload after final validation, of which 25 were recoveries while 2 were fatalities.

"Moreover, we have updated the health status of 3 cases previously reported as recovered but after final validation were found to be deaths," the DOH said in a statement.

To date, the Philippines has tested 1,186,217 individuals for COVID-19, of which 103,963 were found positive for the virus.

The DOH explained that positive cases would still undergo validation since some might be repeat tests or erroneous entries.

Worldwide, the novel coronavirus, which first emerged in Wuhan City in China's Hubei province, has sickened 15.7 million people and killed 639,000 others, a running tally from US-based Johns Hopkins University showed.