THE Department of Health (DOH) reported over 5,000 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as testing output improved with only four laboratories unable to report their data.
The 5,221 new infections brought the cumulative case count closer to 1.5 million.
As of Thursday, July 15, 2021, the Philippines has recorded a total of 1,490,665, including 45,495 active cases. Thirteen duplicates, including 10 recoveries, were removed from the count.
The DOH also reported 82 additional mortalities and 4,147 new recoveries.
The additional mortalities, which included 46 cases previously tagged as recoveries but were found to be deaths, raised the Covid-19 death toll in the country to 26,314. The case fatality rate remained at 1.77 percent.
The new recoveries brought the total to 1,418,856, or 95.2 percent of the total case count.
The DOH said 52 cases that were tagged as recoveries were found to be active cases and added to to the active case count.
Testing output improved to 48,069, of which 10.2 percent yielded positive results. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)