(UPDATED) The total coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) case count in the Philippines breached 600,000 on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, just three days after it surged past 590,000.

In its case bulletin at 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,668 new cases, fewer than 3,000 for the first time in five days.

These brought the cumulative case count to 600,428.

There were seven additional mortalities, raising the death toll from Covid-19 to 12,528. The case fatality rate remained at 2.09 percent.

There were 171 new recoveries, bringing the total to 546,078. There remained 41,822 active cases in hospitals and isolation facilities, comprising 7.0 percent of the total.

The positivity rate in the last 24-hour period to noon of March 8 remained high at 8.1 percent, as 1,594 out of 19,590 samples tested were found positive for Sars-CoV-2.

The DOH are bulletin did not include an explanation for the low number of tests and deaths.

Based on the DOH national tracker, the cities of Quezon, Cebu, Pasay and Manila continued to post the highest number of infections in the last 14 days to March 8.

Cebu Province, which used to have the second highest number of cases nationwide before falling to the fifth slot, dropped out of the list and was replaced by Cavite.

As of March 8, Quezon City had 2,322 new cases in the last 14 days, followed by Cebu City (2,148), Pasay City (1,978), Manila (1,871) and Cavite Province (1,252).

The cities of Quezon, Pasay and Manila are in Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR).

The Quezon City Government has been implementing granular lockdowns in a bid to curb transmission of Covid-19. As of March 9, 12 areas have been placed under special concern lockdown.

In Manila, Mayor Francisco Domagoso has ordered the deployment of more policemen and safety marshalls to ensure compliance to minimum health standards.

He also placed Barangay 351 and 725 under lockdown beginning 12:01 a.m. Thursday, March 11, until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, March 14. Two hotels in Barangay 699, Malate Bayview Mansion and Hop Inn Hotel, will also be on lockdown.

Read: Duque confirms rising hospital admissions

Among the regions, the NCR continued to post the highest rolling total of new cases in the last 14 days, with 13,384 as of March 8.

It was followed by Central Visayas (5,063), Calabarzon (3,245), Central Luzon (2,113) and Cordillera (1,463). (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)