A health care worker wears a sign that reads "2nd dose" on his head to guide people getting inoculated with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at a school turned into a vaccination site in San Juan City, the Philippines on July 27, 2021. The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday 7,186 new COVID-19 infections, the highest since June 13, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,562,420. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
MANILA, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday 7,186 new COVID-19 infections, the highest since June 13, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,562,420.
The death toll climbed to 27,318 after 72 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.
The DOH said 13 laboratories failed to submit data.
The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested more than 15 million people since the outbreak in January 2020.
"COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila increased by 47 percent," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a televised press conference, adding that the capital posted "a little over 900" new cases per day last week.
"This is a wake-up call to the local government units to intensify all our strategies (to curb the infections)," Duque said, stressing the need to launch "aggressive" contact tracing and testing to isolate the infected.
The Philippines is racing to stop the transmission of highly infectious coronavirus variants, including the Delta variant. Enditem
