THE Philippines recorded 16,361 additional cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Tuesday, September 21, bringing the total caseload to over 2.4 million.
The Department of Health (DOH) said the country now has a total of 2,401,916 infections 18 months since the start of the pandemic.
The death toll, however, remained low at 1.54 percent or 37,074 of the 2.4 million confirmed cases. Added to the death toll Tuesday was the 140 new mortalities.
Recoveries also continued to increase with 21,974 additional Covid-19 survivors reported Tuesday. This brought the total number of recoveries in the country to 2,193,700, which is 91.3 percent of the total cases.
Less the deaths and recoveries, 171,142 cases (7.1 percent) have remained active.
The DOH said all Covid-19 laboratories were operational on September 19, but four failed to submit data. These four laboratories contributed 0.4 percent of the samples tested and 0.3 percent of the number of individuals who tested positive in the past 14 days.
The health department warned the public that cases may continue to increase, thus following the minimum public health standards is very important.
The DOH again encouraged those who have not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19 to get their shots as soon as possible, as it reiterated that all vaccines, regardless of the brand, are effective in preventing against severe Covid-19, hospitalization and deaths. (LMY)