Philippines logs 866 new COVID-19 cases, shifts daily bulletin to weekly

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 866 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,663,920.

The DOH said 53 more people died of COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 56,504.

The government has been issuing daily COVID-19 bulletin since the highly transmissible disease emerged in early 2020. Health Secretary Francisco Duque told a television interview on Wednesday the DOH will cease issuing daily COVID-19 bulletin starting March 7 as coronavirus case count dips.

Instead, the DOH will issue a weekly bulletin every Monday afternoon, he added.

"The reason being, first, we already see very low caseload of COVID-19, and, number two, we have seen that even if we had surge sometime in mid-January, a tiny percentage of this accounted for severe and critical cases," he said.

The DOH has reported under 2,000 new cases since February 19 as the Omicron wave which peaked in mid-January ebbed.

The Philippines has seen four COVID-19 waves since 2020. The country reported the highest single-day tally on January 15 this year, with 39,004 new cases.

The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested over 26 million people. (ANI/Xinhua)

( With inputs from ANI )