Philippines reports highest COVID-19 tally in 7 months

The Philippines reported 5,000 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, March 13, marking the highest daily tally in seven months.

This surge has brought the country's total case count to 616,611, with active cases reaching 56,679, the highest number this year.

The nation also recorded 72 new deaths, increasing the total death toll to 12,766, and 281 recoveries, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 547,166.

Seven laboratories failed to submit data on time, and six duplicate cases were removed from the total count.

23 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

Of the active cases, 92.3 percent are mild, 4.3 percent are asymptomatic, 1.4 percent are severe, and 1.4 percent are in critical condition.

Meanwhile, 54 percent of the country's ICU beds are available, and 73 percent of mechanical ventilators are ready for use.

Japanese health authorities have detected a new COVID-19 variant from a traveler from the Philippines.