THE Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, February 22, 2021, reported more than 2,000 new infections, hitting a new high in a single day in nearly four months.

The 2,288 cases verified Monday were the highest in the period from November 9, 2020 to February 22, 2021, just 6.3 percent lower than the 2,442 infections on November 8, 2020.

These brought the total coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) caseload in the Philippines to 563,456.

Active cases in isolation facilities and hospitals went up to 28,488, or 5.1 percent of the total case count, from 26,238 (4.7 percent) on February 21.

The DOH case bulletin at 4 p.m. Monday reported low numbers of mortalities and recoveries.

There were only 33 recoveries on Monday, a day after the DOH reported a “mass recovery” of 9,737. These brought the total recoveries to 522,874.

There were six additional mortalities, increasing the Covid-19 death toll to 12,094. The case fatality rate was steady at 2.15 percent.

The positivity rate remained high at 6.6 percent for the 24-hour period ending noon of February 21 as 1,103 out of 16,588 samples were found positive for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)