MANILA-The total number of patients who died due to COVID-19 in the Philippines crossed the 20,000-mark on Tuesday with 36 additional fatalities, as the country also recorded nearly 4,000 new infections.
The country’s death toll due to the virus climbed to 20,019. Its first fatality was recorded on Feb. 1 last year-a 44-year-old Chinese man who arrived from Wuhan, China and was tagged as the Philippines’ second confirmed COVID-19 case.
Tuesday’s new fatalities included 10 cases first classified as recoveries, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido said the country recorded some 7,000 deaths over the last 2 months. The death toll breached 13,000 last March 24.
Meanwhile, there were 3,972 newly reported COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 1,188,672.
The DOH did not say whether the day’s relatively fewer cases was due to the low testing output on Sunday.
The latest COVID-19 case bulletin showed that there were 32,112 individuals who underwent testing that day, 13.1 percent of whom were found positive for the virus.
Of the total recorded infections, 48,201 or 4.1 percent are considered active.
Recoveries also climbed to 1,120,452 with 4,659 fresh recuperations.
The total number of recoveries comprise 94.3 percent of the country’s overall tally.
Ten laboratories failed to submit data on time.