PH logs 18,659 new COVID-19 cases

The Philippines reported 18,659 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, September 24, 2021, bringing the total caseload to 2.45 million.

There were 175,324 active cases, with 88.1% classified as mild, 6.9% asymptomatic, 1.5% severe, 2.84% moderate, and 0.7% critical.

Total recoveries reached 2.24 million with 9,088 new recoveries.

The Department of Health (DoH) did not report any deaths due to technical issues with the COVIDKaya system.

Eighty-four duplicate cases were removed from the total case count, with 47 of those reclassified as recoveries.

The DoH cited a "rapid and large decline" in laboratory outputs for coronavirus results, leading to a decrease in reported infections nationally and in the capital region.

The department is assessing whether cases have truly declined or if other factors contributed to the lower numbers, such as a 10.3% drop in testing outputs in Metro Manila compared to the previous week.

An inter-agency task force also expanded the group allowed to go out during lockdown to include election officials and more healthcare workers.