(Eagle News) — COVID-19 cases in the Philippines rose to 2841260 on Thursday, Dec. 30, after the Department of Health reported 1623 additional cases.
The additional cases are almost double the additional cases reported the day before.
COVID-19 positivity rate also rose to 6.6%, an increase from Wednesday’s 4.5%, and above the World Health Organization’s acceptable threshold of 5%.
According to the DOH, of the total cases, 11772 were active.
Of these, 577 were asymptomatic, 5737 were mild, 3315 were moderate, 1771 were severe, and 372 were critical.
Recoveries rose to 2778115 with the addition of 256 recoveries.
The COVID-19 death toll is now at 51373, with the addition of 133 deaths.
On Tuesday, the DOH urged the public to remain cautious against COVID-19 even when fully vaccinated, noting the increase in COVID-19 cases and the Omicron threat.
So far, the Philippines has reported four Omicron variant cases, the latest being a 38-year-old female who came from the United States.
The DOH has said the husband of the fourth Omicron variant case also tested positive for COVID-19, although his sample has yet to be subjected to genome sequencing for identification of the variant he had been infected with.
The WHO has said the Omicron variant, which has been confirmed to be highly transmissible, was “probably” already in most countries but remains undetected.