No deaths from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases were reported by the Department of Health for the third day on Sunday.

But COVID-19 cases rose to 20,755 from Saturday's 16, 907 according to the DOH's case bulletin which was delayed for two hours.

No deaths were reported due to ''technical issues in COVIDKaya'', the DOH said.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in Saturday's ''Laging Handa'' virtual forum there is an issue in storage.

''The Department of Information and Communications Technology, which is in charge of the (COVID-KAYA) system, are fixing this,'' said Vergeire.

Despite issues on reporting, OCTA Research Fellow Guido David believes COVID-19 disease trends show it is going down.

David said the reproduction rate in the Philippines is 0.98 while it is 0.94 in the National Capital Region. Average one week growth rate of new cases in the NCR is also declining, added David.

''The trend is clearly going down,'' David told dzBB. He added that in some areas, like Benguet, Camarines Sur and Cebu an increase in COVID-19 cases has been observed.

ICU bed utilization remains high, with 76 percent in the NCR and 75 for the whole country. But ward bed use went down to 68 percent in the whole country and 64 percent in the NCR.

The positivity rate, an indicator of COVID-19 infection, declined to 21.9 percent from 74, 460 tested on Sept. 24.

Recoveries reached a total of 2,292, 006 after 24, 391 were reported on Sunday.

Total cases are 2, 490, 858 out of which 161, 447 are active. Mild cases accounted for 81.1 percent, 13.4 percent asymptomatic and 3.18 percent moderate. DMS