MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines now has 2,851,931 confirmed COVID-19 cases after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 4,600 additional cases on Sunday, January 2.

This is the highest one-day tally since October 29, when 4,043 cases and another 3,439 were reported in separate advisories, for a total of 7,482 that day.

The average number of new cases over the past seven days also hit 2,061, the highest since November 13, when it was at 2,087.

Of the total cases on Sunday, 21,418 are active or currently sick. This is the highest since November 20, when there were 22,070 active cases. Active cases now comprise 0.8% of total infections in the country.

The DOH also reported the positivity rate, or the percentage of people who tested positive for the virus among all who have been tested, hit a three-month high at 19.6% out of 26,122 tests recorded on Friday, December 31. This is the highest daily positivity rate since September 30, when it was at 21.83%.

Of the 4,600 cases reported on Sunday, 4,548 occurred within the recent 14 days. The top regions with reported cases during this period were still Metro Manila (3,279), Calabarzon (676), and Central Luzon (252).

The increase in cases in Metro Manila prompted Octa Research to again classify Metro Manila as “high risk” for COVID-19, less than a month after it was deemed “minimal risk” for the coronavirus disease.

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Metro Manila is under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15, while the rest of the Philippines is under Alert Level 2.

The DOH also reported 25 new deaths due to COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 51,570. Meanwhile, recoveries were up by 535, raising the total to 2,778,943.

Two of the laboratories were not operational and nine failed to submit data on Friday. Based on data from the past two weeks, these 11 laboratories account for 0.8% of all samples and 1.5% of positive cases. – Rappler.com