The Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday COVID-19 cases rose to 421 on Tuesday from 318 on Monday.

The positivity rate went up to 2.6 percent as only 18, 122 persons were tested on December 26. It was the sixth straight day the positivity rate, which measures the infection from COVID-19, went up.

In President Rodrigo Duterte's Talk to The People Monday night, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III called for ''preventive actions especially as we have been seeing a gradual increase in new cases.''

Duque said arrivals must be undergo testing protocols and quarantine to prevent more cases of the Omicron variant from entering the country, more samples to undergo genome sequencing, tighter contact tracing and referring cases for isolation immediately and make sure there are enough medicines against COVID-19.

Only two persons died from COVID-19 to bring total fatalities to 51, 213 while there were 248 who overcame COVID-19. This placed total recoveries to 2, 778, 148.

Total cases are at 2, 839, 111 out of which active cases are 9, 750. Out of the active cases, mild cases account for 3, 766 followed by moderate, 3,343; severe, 1, 778; asymptomatic, 489 and critical, 374. DMS