The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, Nov. 22, reported 984 new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The additional new cases brought the total number of cases to 2,826,853.
The case bulletin of the DOH also showed 2,229 new recoveries and 218 new deaths.
Total recoveries rose to 2,759,767 while total deaths climbed to 47,288.
The Health department said 447 duplicates were removed from the total case count as 434 of these were recoveries and four were deaths.
"In addition, 94 cases were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count. These 94 are recoveries," said the DOH.
"Moreover, 169 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation," added the department.
The DOH said two labs were not operational on Nov. 20, 2021 while three labs were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS).
It added that based on data in the last 14 days, the five labs contribute, on average, 2.7 percent of samples tested and 2.0 percent of positive individuals.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III explained what is a COVID-19 booster shot and a third dose.
"The booster dose simply means you are giving it to the group of individuals who have received the primary series...The assumption is they reached a level of antibody protection but over time it wanes. That protection wanes that's why you wanna boost it with a third dose," he said in Quezon City.
"The third dose will be particularly for the immunocompromised, people who never really reached an adequate level of antibody protection. That you are giving the third dose in the hope that they will respond better with the third dose," Duque added.
The DOH and the National COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center started on Monday the rollout of booster or additional doses to the following: booster doses to senior citizens; and additional or third dose as part of the primary series to individuals with comorbidities in immunocompromised state.
According to Duque, there are about 8.2 million senior citizens and 8.4 million individuals with comorbidities.