MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has officially detected over 3 million cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, January 11, after recording 28,007 new cases on the same day.

In total, the Philippines has recorded 3,026,473 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Since then, the virus has claimed 52,511 lives in the country.

Despite vaccination efforts, the emergence of variants – such as the deadly Delta variant and the infectious Omicron variant – has pushed down the country’s optimism for the pandemic to come to its conclusion.

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As of January 11, the Philippine government detected 181,016 active cases – an undercount, according to experts, as Filipinos struggled to access tests despite already exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.

The January 11 tally also marked the third-highest addition to the COVID-19 tally in a single day, and marked the 5th consecutive day that the Philippines has recorded over 20,000 new virus cases.

The Philippine COVID-19 surge continued almost a month after it first detected the presence of the contagious Omicron variant in the country on December 15 – a pattern shared with other Omicron-hit countries.

While Omicron cases were known to be milder, experts warned that the public must not become complacent as it still sent immunized people to the hospital. The unvaccinated also continued to be vulnerable.

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According to the Department of Health’s data, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds across the country were at 41% occupancy as of January 11. In Metro Manila, 54% of its beds were being occupied as of the same day.

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– Rappler.com