The Philippines on Thursday logged 289 new COVID-19 cases as the entire country prepared to spend the rest of December under Alert Level 2.
The day's tally brought active cases to 10,095, with a total of 380 new recoveries and 47 new deaths reported.
Overall, a total of 2,837,016 COVID-19 cases have been reported since the pandemic began in March 2020, of which 2,776,425 have recovered and 50,496 died.
Alert Level 2 for the entire country is set to last until Dec. 31 despite the detection of Omicron locally. The two cases, both international arrivals, were detected from the 48 samples sequenced on Tuesday, the Department of Health said. The two are in isolation at a Bureau of Quarantine facility.
To keep safe against Omicron this Christmas, the Department of Health advised Filipinos to skip buffets and keep holiday gatherings to a minimum. Unvaccinated kids are urged to meet relatives virtually to minimize risk of infection.
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