THE Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, reported more than 1,500 new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country, increasing the total count to 566,420.

In its case bulletin issued at 4 p.m. Wednesday, the DOH also listed 22 additional deaths and 392 new recoveries.

The new mortalities increased the death toll to 12,129, but the case fatality rate remained steady at 2.14 percent.

The new recoveries brought the total to 523,321, comprising 92.4 percent of the total Covid-19 caseload in the country.

The active cases in hospitals and isolation facilities went up to 30,970, or 5.5 percent of the total.

There was a higher positivity rate of 7.5 percent among those tested in 24 hours until noon of February 23, as the Sars-CoV-2 virus was detected in 1,727 out of 23,170 samples.

The risk of contracting the disease is still highest in Cebu City, based on the DOH nationwide tracker.

As of February 23, Cebu City continued to post the highest number of new cases, with 2,547 infections in the last 14 days by date of onset of illness.

It was followed by Cebu Province with 1,132 for the same period, Quezon City with 1,061, Manila with 949 and Pasay City with 691.

Among the regions, the National Capital Region (NCR), or Metro Manila, still recorded the highest number of new cases at 5,966 for the period.

It was followed by Central Visayas, with 4,968. Cebu City and Cebu Province are in Central Visayas.

Calabarzon, which has the biggest population, was a far third with 2,070 new cases in the recent 14 days, followed by Central Luzon with 1,296 and Cordillera with 1,174. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)