By NewsDesk  @bactiman63 

The Philippines Department of Health recorded 899 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the fourth day reporting less than 1,000 cases–following Wednesday 11/24 (890), Thursday 11/25 (975), Friday 11/26 (863).

COVID-19
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

This brings the country’s total since the start of the pandemic to 2,831,177.

An additional 188 COVID-19 related deaths were also reported, bringing the death tally to 48,205.

The government Friday reported monitoring the new coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 that already has cases in South Africa.

During the Palace briefing, acting Presidential spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and the Department of Health (DOH) are widely aware of the variant described by experts as “heavily mutated”.

“We are monitoring — intently monitoring this situation. We continue to conduct our genomic surveillance on the ground,” Nograles said.