MANILA - The Philippines on Monday confirmed 6,664 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total number of those who have been infected with the virus in the country to 1,555,396.

Active cases are at 55,140 or 3.5 percent of the total recorded infections, while 5,766 new recoveries were reported, the Department of Health (DOH) said in its daily bulletin.

"Today's active cases are the highest since July 2," ABS-CBN Data Analytics Group head Edson Guido said.

The day's number of additional cases is the highest in three days, or since July 23 when 6,845 new infections were announced, according to the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group.

It is also the second day that the daily tally of new recoveries counted fewer than 6,000, noted the ABS-CBN IRG. On Sunday, 5,573 new recoveries were announced.

The DOH said it also recorded 23 recent fatalities, raising the country's COVID-19 death toll to 27,247.

It is the lowest daily tally of deaths since July 22 when the DOH logged 17 deaths, excluding July 23 when zero fatalities were recorded due to issues with COVIDKaya, noted the ABS-CBN IRG.

Seventeen recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation, according to the DOH.

The country's positivity rate is at 13.4 percent, based on the results of 45,369 who were tested last Saturday for the disease, the DOH said in its report.

"The 13.4 percent positivity rate is the highest since June 1, while testing is below 50,000 daily in the past week," said Guido.

One laboratory was not operational on July 24, while 8 facilities were unable to submit their data to the government's data repository system, the DOH said.

The presence of COVID-19 variants in the country "has contributed to the increase in number of cases," Health spokesperson Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press conference.

Independent research group OCTA noted that there is an uptick in new COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region.

Davao City has the most number of fresh COVID-19 cases at 202, Cebu comes second with 198 cases, and Quezon City follows with 161, according to OCTA's July 26 bulletin.

The Philippine capital has the fourth most number of new COVID-19 cases at 140, it said.

• COVID-19 surge foreseen in Metro Manila still reversible: OCTA

"Variants of concern have been a contributing factor," said Vergeire.

"Ating inaalam what really happened in these specific area if there were really breaches, kung mayroon pa tayong factors na kailangan tingnan," she added.

(We are investigating what really happened in these specific areas, if there were really breaches and if there are other factors that need to be considered.)

Four of the Delta variant carriers in Cagayan de Oro came from a birthday party, Mayor Oscar Moreno had said.

• 4 Delta virus patients in Cagayan de Oro traced to birthday party: mayor

The country has recorded a total of 119 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant, of which, 12 are active, as of Saturday, July 24.

• PH detects 55 more Delta variant cases; total now at 119

The DOH has ordered the prepositioning of oxygen tanks and funds for government hospitals, Vergiere said.

"We cannot be reactive at this point," she said.

As of July 25, the Philippines has fully vaccinated more than 6 million individuals nearly 5 months since it began its inoculation program.

• Fully vaccinated people vs. COVID-19 in Philippines top 6 million

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