MANILA (UPDATE) — Coronavirus infections in the Philippines climbed to 568,680 on Thursday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,269 new COVID-19 cases, the second highest single-day tally for 2021.
The additional cases do not include data from 3 laboratories that failed to submit results on time. 
On Monday, the DOH logged 2,288 new confirmed cases, the highest so far this year and since early November.
The death toll, meanwhile, climbed by 72 to 12,201, accounting for 2.15 percent of the cumulative total.
There are also 738 new recovered patients or a total of 524,042 recoveries.
Active cases in the country stood at 32,437 or 5.7 percent of the cumulative total.
Of those currently battling the disease, 88.5% have mild symptoms, 6.1% are asymptomatic, 2.4% are in critical condition, 2.3% have severe symptoms, and 0.78% have moderate symptoms.
A total of 8 cases, 5 tagged a recovered, were removed from the official tally for being duplicate entries.
One case was also removed after it was found to be a negative case.
There were 12 recoveries that were “re-classified” as deaths, said the DOH.
The country expects to receive its first supply of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, courtesy of Sinovac from China, following a number of delays due to what officials say as some additional requirements.
The Philippines’ drug regulator has granted emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccines of Sinovac, Pfizer, AstraZeneca.
A number of the country’s neighbors have already rollout their respective inoculation programs.
As several Metro Manila cities and some regions combat the continuing spread of COVID-19 a year since the pandemic hit the country, President Rodrigo Duterte this week rejected the proposal to further ease quarantine restrictions starting next month unless vaccines against the coronavirus have been administered.
There are almost 46.6 million people currently infected with COVID-19 worldwide. Since the start of the pandemic, almost 112.6 million people have contracted the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, almost 2.5 million have died and 63.5 million have recovered.
The Philippines’ first COVID-19 case, confirmed on Jan. 30, 2020, involved a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China where the disease is believed to have first emerged.
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