(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The country posted 18,528 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, the second biggest one-day jump in cases.

The highest-ever was recorded just a day before, Aug. 28, when new cases surged to 19,441.

The total count is now at 1,954,023, of which 143,221 or 7.3% are active cases, the Department of Health reported.

Of the currently sick, 95.3% exhibit mild symptoms, 2% are asymptomatic, 1% are moderate cases, 1.1% are severe, and 0.6% are critical.

The DOH also announced 101 new fatalities, including 38 cases previously tagged as recoveries. This raised the death toll to 33,109.

Meanwhile, the number of survivors reached 1,777,693 after 17,922 more were confirmed.

The department said data from seven testing laboratories which failed to submit reports on time were not part of the count. These facilities contributed around 2.7% of all samples tested and 2.1% of positive cases over the past two weeks.

The DOH also deleted 205 duplicates, including 204 recoveries, after final validation.

The daily positivity rate continued to increase and stood at 27.9% based on the 66,225 tests reported on Aug. 27. This meant at least 1 in 4 people who had themselves tested the same day was found positive for the coronavirus.

According to U.S. nonprofit Covid Act Now, a positivity rate is at critical level if it is above 20%. This suggests testing efforts are inadequate and that there are likely more infected individuals who have gone undetected. The group also said an area has sufficient testing if its positivity rate is below 3%.