The Philippines on Wednesday recorded its first two deaths from the highly infectious Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The Department of Health (DOH) reported the casualties from the coronavirus variant believed to be the cause of the current surge in cases.

DOH said the fatalities, one from the National Capital Region (NCR) and the other from Central Luzon, were in their 60s,, were not vaccinated, and had preexisting medical conditions.

The fatalities were among nearly 500 new Omicron cases detected by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC).