The Department of Health (DOH) recorded nearly 1,800 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday.

In its latest Case Bulletin, the DOH reported 1,790 new cases bringing the total COVID-19 cases in the country to 537,310.

The Health department also recorded 11,388 new recoveries which brought the total of recovered patients to 499,798.

The DOH said there were 26,333 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

Of the active cases, 87.9 percent were mild, 5.6 percent were asymptomatic, 3 percent were critical, 2.9 percent were severe, and 0.67 percent were moderate.

As to the fatalities, DOH said 70 patients died due to the virus bringing the total to 11,179.

In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the public can expect a higher number of COVID-19 deaths as their harmonization efforts with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) are still ongoing.

"When you look at the number of deaths, it does not reflect the actual deaths in the current period. Many of the deaths happened in the previous months," said Vergeire.

"This is a result of the harmonization we are doing with the PSA," she added.

Based on the DOH data, from January 23 to February 4 alone, only 21 percent or 188 deaths actually happened while 676 happened from March to December 2020. Ella Dionisio/DMS