The government urged Filipino to remain vigilant as the Department of Health (DOH) reported the country's first two cases of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 disease on Wednesday.

"We assure our people that we will closely monitor developments of the two cases in light of existing protocols, as we continue to remind the public not to let their guard down, to religiously observe minimum public health standards, and call upon all those unvaccinated to get their jabs as soon as possible," said Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles in a statement.

Nograles made the reminder even as COVID-19 cases have been falling to its lowest since May 2020.

However, the government kept Alert Level Two nationwide until December 31.

The country's first two cases came from a returning overseas Filipino worker from Japan and a Nigerian, the DOH said.

Health experts report that so far the Omicron variant spreads quickly but produces mild COVID-19 symptoms.

The DOH added both are asymptomatic and quarantined in an isolation facility.

"At present, active case finding and contact tracing are being conducted to determine the health condition of co-passengers of the said confirmed cases," he said.

The Palace commended health experts for the early detection of the two Omicron cases.

"We laud our health experts, particularly the Department of Health, the University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center and the University of the Philippines - National Institutes of Health for their early detection of these two cases," he said.

"This early detection forms part of our Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) strategy that has been in place all throughout the pandemic," said Nograles. Robina Asido/DMS