MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines’ health ministry on Monday confirmed 162 new coronavirus deaths, the country’s biggest single-day increase in casualties, as a health ministry official said authorities validated some earlier cases included in the tally.
The ministry said total deaths had reached 1,534, while confirmed infections rose 2,124 to 56,259.
“As part of ongoing data harmonisation, we cannot avoid seeing cases not yet included in our official death count,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news conference.
Of the 162 casualties, more than half died in June and a third in July, she said, adding that the ministry expects more to be reported because of our data reconciliation efforts.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Ed Davies)
