More areas will be placed under Alert Level 3 from Jan. 9 to 15, Malacañang said Thursday, further tightening restrictions to cap a surge that is assumed to be driven by the hyper-contagious Omicron coronavirus variant.
Areas that will be escalated to the third-highest level of COVID-19 restrictions are Dagupan City, Santiago City, Cagayan, Olongapo City, Angeles City, Bataan, Pampanga, Zambales, Naga City, Iloilo City, Lapu-Lapu City, Batangas, Lucena City, and Baguio City.
The government first raised COVID-19Â Alert Level 3 in Metro Manila and nearby provinces Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal after the holidays.
On Thursday, the Philippines tallied 17,220 new COVID-19 cases and confirmed more infections of the Omicron variant as authorities project the surge to peak by the end of January.
The day's tally brought total active cases to 56,561 and was higher than Wednesday's total of 10,775. Since the start of the pandemic, the country has confirmed 2,888,917 cases.
