如何将SQL COUNT语句的结果存储在PHP变量中

<?php
// 创建一个MySQL数据库连接
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// 检查连接
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("连接失败: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// 执行SQL COUNT查询
$sql = "SELECT COUNT(*) as count FROM myTable";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

// 将查询结果存储在PHP变量中
if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        $count = $row["count"];
        echo "COUNT: " . $count;
    }
} else {
    echo "0 结果";
}

// 关闭数据库连接
$conn->close();
?>