Philippines logs 7,999 new COVID-19 cases, highest daily hike since outbreak

The Philippines reported on Saturday 7,999 new COVID-19 infections, the highest daily tally since the outbreak began in January last year, raising the nationwide tally in the Southeast Asian country to 656,056.

It is the second day in a row that the country had seen more than 7,000 daily infections. Saturday's tally topped Friday's record-high tally of 7,103.

The death toll climbed to 12,930 after 30 more patients died from the viral disease, the country's Department of Health (DOH) said.

The Philippines also confirmed on Saturday the detection of more infectious COVID-19 variants first identified in Britain and South Africa. Most were detected in Metro Mla.

"These additional cases were among the 150 samples mostly from Metro Mla laboratories," the DOH said in a statement.

The DOH said the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center detected an additional 46 variant cases first identified in Britain, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 223. (/Xinhua)

( With inputs from ANI )