President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. intends to reinstitute the national vaccination drive amid the surging cases of Covid-19 in the country.

Ramping up the country's vaccination drive would also give children another layer of protection once they go back to school in the next months, Marcos said.

"hat’s the general policy. We will reinstitute again the vaccination drive so that we can at least feel safer when the children go back to school," Marcos said in a press briefing when asked about his immediate directive amid the over 7,000 cases of the disease recorded in the past week.

While the seven-day average daily cases rose by 60 percent, the President said the country remains capable of handling the growing cases.

He said we should not look at the number of Covid-19 cases in the same way as we look at them in 2020 and 2021, stressing that Omicron "is a little contagious but it does not hit us hard."

"In fact, the general experience has been (that) people are down maybe for two, maybe three days, and that’s like flu. That’s like having flu. So we are getting to that point where we are learning to live with the coronavirus, specifically with the Omicron variant and the other variants that are coming," Marcos said.

With the current situation, where Omicron remains the dominant Covid-19 variant in the country, the President said his administration will hasten the booster drive.

"e will be encouraging that, especially for younger people, because again we have to be concerned about their return to school," he said.

The Department of Health has recorded a total of 7,398 new Covid-19 cases in the past week.