Manila [Philippines], July 1 (ANI/Xinhua): The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 5,795 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,418,337.

The death toll climbed to 24,797 after 135 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.

The Philippines, with a population of more than 110 million, has tested more than 14 million people since the outbreak in January 2020.

"The risk classification nationally is already at low risk," Alethea De Guzman of the DOH's Epidemiology Bureau said in an online briefing, adding that the national case growth rate and average daily infection rate for the past two weeks have slowed.

The number of cases in Metro Manila continued to decline, while infections in the Visayas region in the central Philippines and Mindanao in the south "peaked" in June and showed "signs of decline over the past week," De Guzman said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) called on the Philippine government on Thursday to speed up the vaccination of priority groups, especially the elderly. (ANI/Xinhua)

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