THE Department of Health (DoH) reported 3,073 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections on Monday, bringing the total to 307,288.

The death toll rose by 37 to 5,381, while recoveries increased by 163 to 252,665, it said in a bulletin. There were 49,242 active cases, 86.4% of which were mild, 8.7% did not show symptoms, 1.5% were severe and 3.4% were critical, the agency said.

Metro Manila reported the highest number of cases with 1,158, followed by Cavite with 225, Laguna with 203, Rizal with 173 and Batangas with 169.

Of the new deaths, 21 came from Western Visayas, eight from Metro Manila, four from the Calabarzon region and two from Soccsksargen.

Central Luzon and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) reported one death each.

More than 3.4 million individuals have been tested for the coronavirus, DoH said.

The coronavirus death rate was at 1.75%, lower than 2.99% globally. The infection rate was at 10.32%, higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) less than 5% benchmark, it added.

The reproduction number of the virus was at 1.001, which means one person can infect another. It takes 11.36 days for cases to double and 16.22 days for deaths to double, DoH said.

Meanwhile, DoH said it would reclassify community quarantines based on a so-called two-week attack rate of the virus. It used to recommend lockdown restrictions based on the doubling rate of cases and deaths.

Under the new setup, the growth rate will be determined by comparing cases every two weeks, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire told an online news briefing. “This is more sensitive because we see a true picture of the community.”

Meanwhile, Health authorities said the public should continue practicing health standards despite the slowing trend in infections.

The weekly average has gone down by as many as 1,200 cases, Ms. Vergeire said. Some areas of the country were still experiencing a surge, she added.

“We can’t be complacent at this point,” she said. “We still need to be vigilant.”

Ms. Vergeire traced the slowing trend to the creation of a hospital command center that strengthened the referral network of hospitals, and a program that encouraged people who tested positive to stay at quarantine facilities.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte kept Metro Manila under a general community quarantine until the end of the month, along with the provinces of Bulacan and Batangas and the cities of Tacloban and Bacolod amid the pandemic.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the head of the national task force had said the Philippines was seeking to flatten the curve by the end of September.

In epidemiology, the idea of slowing a virus spread so that fewer people need to seek treatment at a time is known as flattening the curve.

The curve researchers are talking about refers to the projected number of people who will get infected over time.

The coronavirus has sickened 33.3 million and killed more than a million people worldwide, according to the Worldometers website, citing various sources including data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

About 25 million people have recovered from the virus, it said. It added that active cases stood at 7.7 million, 1% of which or 65,005 were either serious or critical, according to the website.

The United States had the most infections at 7.3 million, followed by India with 6.1 million and Brazil with 4.7 million. The US also had the most deaths at 209,453, Brazil had 141,776 and India had 95,574. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas and Gillian M. Cortez

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