Twenty-three more individuals have recovered from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) bringing the total recoveries to 499,772.

(JANSEN ROMERO / MANILA BULLETIN)
This was based on the data released by the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, Feb. 8.
The data also showed 1,690 new COVID-19 cases which means there are now a total of 538,995 COVID-19 cases in the country.
As to the number of deaths, 52 new deaths were recorded which means that there are now a total of 11,231 fatalities due to COVID-19.
"Four duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, 2 were recovered cases," the DOH said.
"Moreover, 46 cases that were previously tagged as recovered were reclassified as deaths after final validation," it added.
"In addition, 1 case was found to have tested negative and has been removed from the total case count. This was a recovered case," the DOH said.
According to DOH, five labs were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Data Repository System (CDRS) on Feb. 7.
Meanwhile, the DOH also gave an update on the 25 UK variant cases reported in the country.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said of the 25 cases, only 2 are still active cases.
"We have one who died and the other 22 have already recovered," she said.
Vergeire said the 84-year-old male from La Trinidad, Benguet, died last month.
"We have yet to receive further details but according to our regional office, this person apparently never or seldom went out of his house and did not have any other contacts. We will check the source of infection and other circumstances," she said.
The DOH, meantime, said they did not intend to cause undue alarm or panic when they announced the case of a 35-year-old male from Liloan, Cebu.
"We'd like to apologize to the province of Cebu. We do not want to instigate fear but that is part of our reporting because that's part of their investigation form," said Vergeire.
"We report based on the address given to us, especially if it is just an initial detail given to us at that time. It was the specific address that was included in the case investigation form," she added.