The Department of Health (DOH) reported its highest number of new COVID-19 recoveries in a single day at 159 on Wednesday.

This brings the total number of recovered patients to 4,895, out of the country’s cumulative total of 23,732 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The country’s health department also reported 452 “fresh cases,” the highest reported in a single day since it used the new classification.

Fresh cases refer to patients whose test results were released and subsequently validated in the last 3 days.

For late cases, the DOH reported 288, bringing the total number of additional cases to 740. This is the 4th highest total for additional cases since the start of the pandemic.

“Late cases” refer to patients whose test results were released more than 3 days ago but were only validated recently.

Also, 10 new COVID-related fatalities were recorded, bringing the death toll to 1,027.

Of the 452 fresh cases, 91 came from the National Capital Region (NCR), 83 from Region 7 or Central Visayas, and 277 were from different other regions. There is also one Filipino repatriate included in the list.

The late cases included 100 patients from NCR, 1 from Region 7 and 142 from other regions. Forty-five repatriates were also included.

Since June 6, the Philippines has been logging larger numbers of fresh cases despite the earlier claim of the Department of Health that the country has been flattening the epidemic curve.

A substantial number of fresh cases have also been coming from Region 7, where there was a previous spike in cases in a couple of villages and jails.

On Tuesday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the DOH’s Epidemiology Bureau is looking into the spike in fresh cases, especially those in Region 7.

An expert earlier said that the country will only see the effect of the transition to a general community quarantine two weeks after it was implemented on June 1. This is because the incubation period of the virus can be up to 14 days.

Worldwide, some 7.2 million people have been infected with COVID-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. Of those, almost 3.4 million people have recovered and 411,000 have died./Stacy Ang