Indonesia reported a record number of new coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the Omicron variant spreads across the Southeast Asian archipelago.
The number of daily infections topped 57,000, according to the government's COVID-19 taskforce, surpassing the previous peak of 56,757 cases recorded in July last year during the country's Delta wave.
"The national figure for positive cases in this third wave increased sharply and faster compared to the second wave," taskforce spokesman Wiku Adisasmito told a press briefing.
But the death rate is far lower than during the Delta surge when Indonesia reported around 2,000 fatalities a day.
The country was severely impacted by the pandemic last year, with hospitals running out of beds and medical oxygen to treat patients.
Indonesia reported 134 new deaths from COVID on Tuesday, while the hospital bed occupancy rate is around 33 percent, compared to more than 77 percent during the Delta explosion.
The government this month imposed stricter restrictions on public facilities, offices, malls and restaurants in several cities but has progressively shortened the quarantine period for vaccinated travellers coming in from abroad.
To date Indonesia has recorded 4.9 million infections with more than 145,000 deaths.
The rollout of vaccines remains slow with only half of the 270 million population inoculated with two doses as authorities struggle to procure enough shots.
Philippines At 'Low Risk' From Coronavirus
The Philippines is now at "low risk" from the coronavirus pandemic as more people get vaccinated and hospital admissions drop, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said Tuesday.
The country last week reopened to foreign tourists for the first time in two years, though some health restrictions remain as campaigning for the 9 May elections starts, with political rallies seen as potential superspreader events.
"The National Capital Region and the entire Philippines now have a low-risk classification" in terms of case growth, prevalence and health system capacity, Duterte spokesman Karlo Nograles told reporters.
After surges of the highly transmissible Omicron and Delta strains of the virus that led to government-enforced restrictions on mobility, hospital bed occupancy rates have eased to about 30 percent.
Cases have averaged about 3,600 daily in the past week as the number of fully vaccinated people climbed to around 56 percent of the population, health officials said.
After lengthy lockdowns which ravaged the economy and put millions out of work, the government is now planning for a lifting of all restrictions, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters without giving a time frame.
"When that happens, all restrictions will be lifted and everything will be under self-regulation," she added.
The virus has infected more than 3.6 million people and killed more than 55,000, according to government data.