The Philippines on Monday tallied 4,084 new COVID-19 cases on the first day of Alert level 3 in Metro Manila.
The day's tally brought active cases to 24,992, with a total of 497 new recoveries and 16 new deaths reported.
Overall, a total of 2,855,819 COVID-19 cases have been reported since the pandemic began in March 2020, of which 2,779,241 have recovered and 51,586 died.
The capital region will be under Alert Level 3 until Jan. 15 after infections increased in the days following Christmas.
Under the stricter alert level, operating capacities for restaurant dine-in, cinemas, and gyms will be reduced, and face-to-face class, funfairs, and contact sports will be restricted.
According to the MMDA, Metro Manila mayors agreed "in principle" to ban unvaccinated persons from leaving their residences for non-essential trips, including dining out.
Tourist destinations like Baguio City also closed borders to tourists due to the threat of the more transmissible Omicron variant.
In total, the Philippines has 14 confirmed Omicron variant cases, the Department of Health said.
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