The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday morning reported 2,124 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines, bringing the total to 56,259.
Apart from the new cases, the DOH also reported 2,009 patient recoveries and 162 deaths.
The Philippines’ total number of recoveries as of July 13 is 16,046, while fatalities also reached 1,534.
DOH said of the newly reported deaths, 51 were reported and recorded in July, 90 on June, 20 in May, and one in April.
Of the newly-logged COVID-19 cases, 1,690 are fresh cases or those reported within the last three days, while 434 are late cases or were part of the DOH’s validation backlog.
As of today, the country has 38,676 active cases of COVID-19, mostly mild or asymptomatic.
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Late reporting of cases
The DOH did not report the number of new cases yesterday due to the “significant volume” of data gathered on Sunday.
The agency would usually release the daily tally at around 4 pm, but it said Sunday it would release the report at 7:30 pm.
However, before midnight, DOH announced it would not release the figures for July 12, as it was still validating the data.
“Due to the significant volume of data gathered today as part of DOH’s effort to harmonize data with cities of NCR [National Capital Region] and the different regions, the DOH Data Team is still currently in the process of validating today’s numbers,” the DOH said in an advisory.
Because of the volume of data, the agency said that “initial findings” suggested “an increase in today’s number of reported cases, recoveries, and deaths.”
“We recognize the importance of providing real-time information. However, in providing this information, we also make sure that said information is accurate with this the DOH will be providing a comprehensive report of today’s numbers tomorrow [Monday] at 8:30 am,” the DOH said.
The agency on Friday reported there are over 12,000 submitted COVID-19 samples that are considered as backlogs from different laboratories nationwide.
Meanwhile, the DOH tracker’s latest data showed 936,668 of cumulative samples were tested.
NTF Deputy Chief Implementer and testing czar Vince Dizon said last month, the government targets to conduct 10 million tests in the next eight to 10 months.