MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday, January 6, detected 29 new cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19, including 19 local cases from Metro Manila.

“The 29 Omicron variant cases are composed of 10 ROFs (returning overseas Filipino) and 19 local cases with indicated addresses in the National Capital Region, bringing the total number of confirmed Omicron variant cases to 43,” the DOH said in a statement.

The DOH said that of the 19 local cases, 14 cases are still active, three cases have been tagged as recovered, while status of two cases are still being verified.

Meanwhile, the DOH is verifying the test results and health status of the co-passengers of the ROFs. The DOH has yet to provide the flight details of the ROFs.

The 29 new detected Omicron cases accounted for 60.41% of the 48 positive samples that underwent genome sequencing on Sunday, January 2. 

The detection of Omicron cases in the country fuels another surge in infections, recording new cases at an unprecedented rate. On Wednesday, January 6, the Philippines logged 10,775 new cases, nearly double Tuesday’s tally.

Octa Research Group, who has been studying the coronavirus pandemic, projected that COVID-19 cases in the country may breach the 20,000-mark on Friday, January 7.

The DOH earlier said there is a “high possibility” of local transmission of Omicron in the country.

Aside from Omicron cases, the DOH also reported 18 cases of Delta, bringing the total cases of this variant to 8,497. – Rappler.com