MANILA — Coronavirus infections in the Philippines reached 164,474 on Monday after the country's Department of Health (DOH) announced 3,314 additional cases.

The DOH also reported 237 additional recovered patients or a total of 112,759, a day after it logged a record-high 40,397 recoveries due to its so-called “mass recovery adjustment.”

With 18 additional COVID-related deaths or at total of 2,681 fatalities, the Philippines’ active cases stands at 49,034.

Active cases refer to patients who are still infected with COVID-19 and are staying either in the hospital or under home quarantine.

Of the additional cases, which were reported by 91 out of 105 operational laboratories, more than half came from the National Capital Region (1,918 cases), followed by Laguna (274), Cavite (219), Rizal (118) and Bulacan (105).

The DOH said majority or 86% of Monday's new cases were within the last 2 weeks. “The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were NCR (1,656 or 58%), Region 4A (672 or 24%) and Region 3 (131 or 5%),” it said.

Two-thirds of the additional deaths for the day were from the month of July (12 cases), and the rest were in August (4) and June (2).

“Deaths were from Region 4A (5 fatalities), Region 7 (4), NCR (4), Region 3 (3), Region 10 (1), and BARMM (1),” the DOH said of the newly reported fatalities.

A total of 93 duplicate cases were removed from the previous tally, including 64 recovered cases and 2 deaths.

The Philippines has been logging record-high numbers in terms of new COVID-19 cases since late July, following the easing of quarantine measures and the gradual opening up of the economy.

A government special adviser on COVID-19 said the country last week reached its peak of new COVID-19 cases in a day as it reached more than 6,000.

• READ: PH reached virus peak at 6,000 daily new cases: gov't special adviser

The high number of cases is still attributed mostly to community transmission, especially with more people allowed to go out and work during the general community quarantine, DOH said.

According to the agency, there are a total of 1,245 COVID-19 clusters in the Philippines, as of Sunday, Aug. 16. Majority of those are in communities (84.7%), and a small percentage are in health facilities (5.5%) and closed settings such as jails (2.4%) and other areas (7.5%).

“The regions with highest number of areas with clustering were NCR, Region 4A, Region 7, and Region 3,” the DOH said.

DOH: The regions with highest number of areas with clustering were NCR, Region 4A, Region 7, and Region 3. @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/dMYQn0I0gI

— Kristine Sabillo 🇵🇭 (@kristinesabillo) August 17, 2020

The continued spread of COVID-19 has led to doctors calling for a “timeout” or to revert to stricter measures early this month, which the government partially granted. The modified enhanced community quarantine implemented in Metro Manila and four nearby provinces is set to expire Tuesday, with local governments hoping for the easing of restrictions.

• READ: Metro Manila mayors want strict GCQ in NCR after Aug. 18: Palace

Dr. Guido David of the UP Institute of Mathematics had said that the country's case tally may reach 200,000 by the end of this month.

• UP expert: COVID-19 cases posibleng pumalo sa 200K sa katapusan ng Agosto

The Philippines' first confirmed COVID-19 case was reported on Jan. 30 in a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China where the disease is believed to have first emerged.

Since the start of the pandemic, almost 21.7 million people have been infected by the COVID-19 virus, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, 775,000 have died and more than 13 million have recovered.