OVER 4,000 additional cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) were again reported Saturday, August 15, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 157,918.
The Department of Health (DOH) announced that as of 4 p.m. Saturday, 4,351 new cases have been recorded based on the total tests done by 96 out of 103 current operational laboratories in the Philippines.
Of the 4,351 cases, 3,469 or 80 percent occurred within the recent 14 days (August 2 - 15, 2020).
The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region (NCR) with 1,952 cases or 56 percent, Calabarzon with 566 or 16 percent, and Central Visayas with 181 or five percent.
The health department also reported 885 recoveries that brought the total number of those who have recovered from the disease to 72,209.
There were also 159 additional mortalities.
Of the 159 deaths,
57 or 36 percent happened in August, 61 or 38 percent in July, 37 or 23 percent in June, three or two percent in May, and one or one percent in April.
The new deaths were from Central Visayas (71 or 45 percent), NCR (61 or 38 percent), Calabarzon (16 or 10 percent), Bicol (four or three percent), Zamboanga Peninsula (two or one percent), Central Luzon (two or one percent), Soccsksargen (one or one percent), Ilocos (one or one percent) and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (one or one percent).
The DOH said 93 duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, 10 recovered cases have been removed.
There were also 71 cases that were previously reported as recovered but after final validation, they were deaths (70) and active (one) cases.
"One case previously reported as a death has been validated to be a recovery," the DOH added. (LMY/SunStar Philippines)