The Philippines now has 61,345 active cases of COVID-19, as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 6,686 additional cases on Friday, June 11. This is the highest since May 8, when 63,376 active cases were recorded.

Friday’s new cases also pushed the country’s total caseload to 1,300,349. Death to due to COVID-19 is now at 22,507 after 196 new deaths were reported. This is the third consecutive day that over 100 new deaths were recorded.

Meanwhile, recoveries grew by 3,190, raising total recoveries to 1,216,497.

The DOH reported a positivity rate of 13.3% out of 49,371 tests in its bulletin. These positive cases are added to the tally of confirmed cases only after further validation. This process helps ensure cases would not be recorded in duplicate, and that all test results had been submitted, explained the department.

The DOH said all testing hubs were operational on Wednesday, June 9, while three laboratories were not able to submit their data on time. The cases reflected in the Friday bulletin were based on tests conducted two prior.

On Friday morning, the DOH said that it saw “faster increase” in COVID-19 cases in the Visayas and Mindanao, while cases in virus epicenter Metro Manila continued to decline.

Experts studying the coronavirus pandemic in the country had flagged the rising cases outside the capital region, especially in Mindanao.

The Philippines received its largest single delivery of vaccines so far on Thursday, June 10, with the arrival of 2.27 million Pfizer doses from the COVAX global facility.

The latest shipment is expected to boost the Philippines’ vaccine drive, where Pfizer is the second most-preferred brand among adult Filipinos, following China’s Sinovac. 

As of June 6, the Philippines has vaccinated 1.42% of its population of 110 million. – Rappler.com