The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday it had identified 1,245 clusters of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.
Based on the DOH's data, 1,054 or nearly 85 percent of the clusters are found in communities, followed by 68 clusters in hospitals or health facilities, 30 in jails and prisons, and 93 in unspecified other settings.
This developed as the department logged 3,314 new cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines, bringing the total to 164,474 coronavirus cases.
“As of 4PM today, August 17, the Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases at 164,474,” said its COVID-19 Case Bulletin #156.
The confirmed cases Monday were reported based on the total tests done by 91 out of 105 current operational labs.
The National Capital Region (NCR), Region 4A, Region 7, and Region 3 had the most areas with a clustering of cases as of August 16, the DOH said.
A total of 411 clusters were reported in Metro Manila, 216 in Region 4A, 176 in Region 7, and 68 in Region 3.
In the four regions, the highest numbers of clusters were found in communities.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines clusters of cases as a transmission category in which areas experience cases "clustered in time, geographic location and/or by common exposures."
In July, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the increase in COVID-19 cases in the country at the time was because of the clustering of cases and community transmission, not improved testing.
DOH likewise announced 237 recoveries on Monday, a day after it logged a record-high 40,397 recoveries due to its so-called “mass recovery adjustment.”
This brings the total number of recoveries to 112,759.
The Philippines’ active cases rose to 49,034. These refer to patients who are still infected with COVID-19 and are staying either in the hospital or under home quarantine.
The country has been logging record-high numbers in terms of new COVID-19 cases since late July, following the easing of quarantine measures and the gradual reopening of the economy.
A government special adviser on COVID-19 said the country last week reached its peak of new COVID-19 cases in a day as it reached more than 6,000.
Of the 3,314 reported cases today, 2,854 (86%) occurred within the recent 14 days (August 4 to 17). The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were NCR (1,656 or 58%), Region 4A (672 or 24%) and Region 3 (131 or 5%.)
The DOH also reported 18 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 2,681 – with 4 (22%) in August, 12 (67%) in July, and 2 (11%) in June.
Deaths were from Region 4A (5 or 28%), Region 7 (4 or 22%), NCR (4 or 22%), Region 3 (3 or 17%), Region 10 (1 or 6%), and BARMM (1 or 6%).
There were 93 duplicates that were removed from the total case count. Of these, 64 recovered cases and two deaths have been removed.
These numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation, the DOH said.
The high number of cases is still attributed mostly to community transmission, especially with more people allowed to go out and work during the general community quarantine, DOH said.