Eighty-nine hospitals are using the oral antiviral drug molnupiravir for COVID-19 patients despite lack of emergency use authorization, the Department of Health said yesterday.

Unvaccinated police officers will be relegated to administrative work under the “no jab, no duty” policy of the Philippine National Police, PNP chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos announced yesterday.

Quezon City, the largest locality in Metro Manila in terms of land area and population, has registered less than 30 new cases of COVID-19 per day, according to OCTA Research Group.

Director-General Karl Kendrick Chua of the National Economic and Development Authority proposed on Wednesday that the tracking and treating of COVID-19 cases follow new metrics and methods that do not scare people, strain resources or stifle productive activity.

Share prices rose further yesterday as the bourse returned to pre-COVID-19 trading hours, although concerns over the impact of the Omicron variant remain in play.