MANILA (UPDATE) — The number of COVID-19 patients who have died in the Philippines has reached 4,999 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 15 additional fatalities on Monday.

More than half of the additional deaths occurred this month.

The country logged 3,475 additional confirmed infections, raising the total to 290,190, according to the DOH.

This time around, majority of the newly-announced cases came from outside the National Capital Region (NCR). NCR only logged 1,543 cases on Monday.

Of the additional cases, 76% occurred in the last 2 weeks.

With 400 additional recovered patients, there are now 54,958 active cases or those currently infected with COVID-19 in the country.

The total number of recoveries is 230,233.

A total of 28 duplicate cases, including 19 tagged as recovered, were removed from the official tally.

The DOH also said that 13 cases previously reported as recovered were reclassified as death (12) and active (1) cases after final validation.

For Monday’s figures, there were 9 laboratories that were unable to submit their data on time:

1. Amosup Seamen's Hospital
2. Davao One World Diagnostic Center Incorporated
3. Dr. Jorge P. Royeca Hospital
4. Kaiser Medical Center Inc.
5. Southern Philippines Medical Center
6. Taguig City Molecular Laboratory
7. Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital
8. University of Perpetual Help System Dalta
9. Valenzuela Hope Molecular Laboratory

After a momentary decline in the number of daily cases in early September, the Philippines is again recording more than 3,000 cases a day.

ABS-CBN Data Analytics Head Edson Guido said that while the numbers are still high, it has seemingly stabilized.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said on Monday that the delay in laboratory submissions does not affect the daily tally anymore since most are already complying with requirements.

Meanwhile, Vergeire disclosed that from Sept. 7 to 20, 43% of the newly-announced cases were from the NCR.

She said they are still studying if the current number of cases is an accurate reflection of the actual COVID-19 situation in the country.

The UP OCTA Research Group earlier estimated that the Philippines would have 310,000 to 330,000 total COVID-19 cases by the end of September.

Since the start of the pandemic, 31 million people have been infected by the COVID-19 virus, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, 960,000 have died and more than 21 million have recovered.