MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte expressed concern over another COVID-19 surge in the country, stressing government funds for pandemic response have been depleted.

Duterte, in a taped briefing aired late Tuesday, said he was worried the COVID-19 omicron variant might spread in the country and cause another surge in cases.

"Natatakot lang ako," he said.

(I'm scared.)

"Somehow, kinakabahan ako. Kasi let me be frank to the public, depleted na 'yung pera talaga ng Pilipinas. Even coping up with the growing expenses for the typhoon (Odette) victims . . . Niwalis nga kung ano pa'ng natira, ubusin na lang."

(Somehow it makes me nervous because, let me be frank to the public, the country's money is already depleted. Even coping with the growing expenses for the typhoon victims . . . We just scraped what's left, we'll just use that up.)

Although the country will get more funds once the 2022 budget takes effect, Duterte said the government cannot afford another surge before that happens.

"Ang problema lang, in between the months and the days coming our way, celebration and all, baka nga makalusot talaga 'yang omicron, earlier than expected. 'Yun ang kinakatakot ko. It would require a huge expenditure again to meet the challenges of the new variant," he said.

(The problem is, in between the months and days coming our way, celebration and all, the omicron variant might slip in earlier than expected. That's what I'm afraid of. It would require a huge expenditure again to meet the challenges of the new variant.)

The Philippines has detected a third COVID-19 omicron case in a returning Filipino from Qatar who has a travel history in Egypt, days after the Department of Health confirmed the first two cases of the omicron variant in the country.

• PH detects 3rd case of omicron variant in returning Filipino from Qatar
• Philippines confirms first 2 cases of COVID-19 omicron variant

The omicron variant has 50 mutations, including 30 in the spike protein region, which might cause "increased transmissibility and immune evasion," the DOH earlier said.

As of Tuesday, the Philippines has a total of 2,837,719 COVID-19 cases, with 50,794 deaths and 2,777,541 recoveries.

• PH reports 168 fresh COVID-19 cases as 20 labs fail to submit data