The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday reported  another record-high number of new recovered COVID-19 patients in a single day at 301, as the total infections climb to 26,781.

It is the 6th straight day that new recoveries have been more than 150. The total recoveries stood at 6,552.

There were also 5 new COVID-related deaths reported, raising the total fatalities in the country to 1,103.

“As of 4PM today, June 16, 2020, the Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases at 26,781,” said DOH COVID-19 CASE BULLETIN #094.

The DOH reported 364 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which, 249 are “fresh” while 115 are “late.”

Fresh cases refer to those whose test results were released within the last 3 days, while late cases are those whose results were released four days ago or more.

Of the fresh cases, 128 are from Metro Manila, 56 are from Region 7 (Central Visayas), and 65 are from other regions or do not have location information.

Meanwhile, 24 of the late cases are from Metro Manila, 3 are from Region 7, and 88 are from other areas.

Metro Manila remains to be the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, while Cebu City, in Region 7, is being closely monitored because of the recent spike in new COVID-19 cases there.

The DOH said that it removed three cases from the total number of confirmed cases after they were “verified to be negative.” One of them was initially reported to have recovered.

“The total cases reported may be subject to change as these numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation,” the DOH said in its bulletin.

The DOH started reclassifying additional cases into fresh and late cases in late May to assure the public that the spike in new patients was because of delays in validation.

This was to allay fears that the government is failing to curb the spread of the virus.

The agency also started putting disclaimers in its number of new deaths, also because of the recent increase in reported fatalities.

It disclosed that a large number of the recently reported deaths were from previous months as far back as April./Stacy Ang