The Department of Health (DOH) logged on Wednesday, March 17, additional 4,387 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, raising the country's cumulative count to 635,698.

In its latest case bulletin, the DOH said the active cases or still sick patients stood at 61,733, which accounts for 9.7 percent of the total tally.
The DOH said 93 percent of the active cases have mild symptoms, 3.8 percent were asymptomatic, 1.2 percent were in critical condition, 1.3 percent were severe, and 0.68 percent have moderate symptoms.
It was also shown in the bulletin that the death count increased to 12,866 after 18 more people succumbed to COVID-19. The case fatality rate was at 2.02 percent, the DOH said.
Meanwhile, 374 more patients were cleared from the disease, raising the number of recovered patients to 561,099 or 88.3 percent of the country's overall tally.
If the current trend of the new COVID-19 cases continues, the OCTA Research Team warned that the daily number of new infections might reach 8,000.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said that as of now, they are not yet recommending to place the National Capital Region (NCR) under a stricter quarantine status “but if nothing changes and the cases continue to rise--- then the possibility of a more widespread lockdown is certainly strong.”