The Department of Health (DOH)  on Friday reported 1,841 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, of which 710 are “fresh” and 1,131 are “late”, bringing the nationwide tally to 63,001.

The DOH  also reported  that total recoveries rose to 21,748 with 311 new ones.

The DOH also reported 17 more fatalities bringing the death toll in the country to 1,660.

The five provinces or cities with the highest number of new cases are Manila with 441, Quezon City with 140, Mandaluyong with 96, Cebu City with 87, and Navotas with 86.

There are also 39,593 active cases. Among this, 90.3 percent are mild, 8.8 percent are asymptomatic, 0.4 percent are severe, and 0.4 percent are in critical condition, said DOH COVID-19 Case Bulletin  #125.

Report is   based on the total tests done by 76 out of 84 current operational labs.

Of the 17 deaths, 9 (53%) in July, 6 (35%) in June, 1 (6%) in May, and 1 (6%) in April. Deaths were from NCR (9 or 53%), Region 11 (4 or 24%), Region 10 (2 or 12%), and Region 7 (1 or 6%); 1 (6%) case was a repatriate.

One hundred six duplicates were removed from total case count, of these, three duplicates previously reported as a recovered have been removed from the total count of recoveries after final verification.

The total cases reported may be subject to change as these numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation.

Experts from the University of the Philippines have  projected that the country may have 80,000 COVID-19 cases by July 31 due to a “genuine surge” of infections./Stacy Ang