Philippines' COVID-19 cases near 270,000 as 3,544 new infections detected

MANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippines reported 3,544 additional coronavirus infections Tuesday, bringing the country's cumulative total of COVID-19 cases to 269,407.

The Department of Health (DOH) said that of the confirmed cases, 57,392 are active, while 207,352 have recovered and 4,663 have died.

This is the 8th straight day that additional cases are more than 3,000.

Majority or 690 of the new cases are from the National Capital Region, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

In its report, the DOH also said they removed 25 cases from the cumulative tally for being "duplicates."

The DOH said 10 laboratories were unable to submit their test results on time, for Tuesday’s new tally.

Last week, the DOH claimed that the "irregularly high number of cases" reported were due to laboratories catching up on delayed reporting. Although daily reporting shows that majority of the cases are from the last 2 weeks.

• ‘Irregularly high number’ of COVID cases expected this week as labs catch up on submission — DOH

MISTAGGED RECOVERIES

Meanwhile, the DOH corrected its earlier report after discovering that 538 cases initially tagged as recovered turned out to be two deaths and 536 active infections.

Mistagging of cases has been admitted in the past by the DOH.

On Monday, the agency reported a similar rectification after finding out that 297 cases initially reported as recoveries were actually deaths (253) and active infections (44) during validation.

• DOH corrects nearly 300 ‘recovered’ COVID-19 cases as deaths and active infections

The University of the Philippines OCTA Research group is projecting the country's caseload to reach 310,000 to 330,000 by the end of the month.

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

Globally, almost 29.3 million have contracted COVID-19, according to the latest tally of the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. Of those, 928,576 have died, while more than 19.8 million have recovered.