MANILA, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 263 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, pushing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,837,730.
The DOH also reported that 45 more people died from COVID-19 complications, bringing the country's death toll to 50,784. The deaths include those who died in the previous months and last year.
The number of active cases or patients still battling the disease in the country dropped to 9,592.
The Philippines has detected a third case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters in an online briefing.
On Dec. 15, the DOH reported its first two confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in two male travelers from Nigeria and Japan who flew in on Dec. 1 and Nov. 30, respectively. The Nigerian national and the Filipino have recovered.
The Philippines, with a population of around 110 million, has tested more than 23 million people since the outbreak of the pandemic. Enditem
