TOP HOLIDAY DESTINATION: The Philippines welcomed more than 8.2 million tourists in 2019, but arrivals saw an 82% drop in 2020 as the pandemic hit. Boracay, in Aklan, central Philippines, was a major draw for tourists, but the holiday destination has been off the international tourism map for months due to travel curbs. There are at least 12 swab samples undergoing review for Omicron in the Philippines, local media reported on Tuesday. There are no confirmed cases of the highly infectious variant in the county so far. Health authorities have ramped up genome sequencing of swab samples from in-bound travellers.
Department of Tourism / Twitter