MANILA— The Philippines on Friday logged 7,625 more COVID-19 cases, pushing the country's total reported cases to over 2.7 million, data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed.

This is the 3rd straight day that new cases fell below the 8,000-mark, data showed.

"Prior to this week, the last time that the number of fresh cases fell below 8,000 was more than two months ago, or on Aug, 4 when DOH announced 7,342 cases," the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group said.

The country's total reported COVID-19 cases stood at 2,705,792, of which 78,999 remain active infections.

Positivity rate is at 14.9 percent, based on results of 49,655 individuals who got screened for the virus on Wednesday. This means more than 1 in 10 people screened for COVID-19 tested positive for the virus.

ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido said the positivity rate was at below 15 percent for the 3rd straight day.

Meanwhile, 203 more fatalities were recorded, pushing the death toll to 40,424.

A total of 109 cases initially classified as recoveries turned out as deaths after the DOH revalidation.

Recoveries, meanwhile, increased by 13,363 to 2,586,369. More people are expected to recuperate from the virus in the coming days due to the high number of individuals who tested positive in the past weeks.

Three laboratories failed to submit data on time.

The government earlier in the day began expanding its inoculation program to individuals age 12 to 17 with health risks.

• READ: Philippines begins COVID-19 vaccination of children with health risks

The DOH last week confirmed that the country's daily COVID-19 cases have declined and that its decrease was "not artificial."

• READ: DOH: COVID-19 cases going down, decline not 'artificial'
• amid technical failures of COVIDKaya

The Philippines has fully vaccinated some 23.54 million out of its target 77 million, while nearly 27 million have received their first dose as of Tuesday, according to government data.