DOH: 128 new cases of omicron subvariants detected

MANILA — The Philippines has detected 128 new cases of omicron COVID-19 subvariants, according to the Department of Health.

Based on the DOH's latest biosurveillance report, 52 were classified as BA.2.3.20, 1 case as BN.1, 10 cases as BA.5, 28 as XBB, 13 as XBC, and 24 as other omicron subvariants.

The new BA.5 cases include 3 cases of BF.7 and 1 BQ.1.

The report also showed that 1 additional case was classified as delta, with collection date in mid-December 2022.

These are results of the latest sequencing run conducted from January 3 to 9, the agency said.

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Of the 52 additional BA.2.3.20 cases, 51 were local cases from Regions 1, 2, 3, 4A, 5, 6, 7, CAR, and NCR, while the remaining case was a returning overseas Filipino, the DOH said.

The recently detected BN.1 case, reported under BA.2.75, was a local case from Region 6.

Meanwhile, of the 10 new BA.5 cases, 6 were local cases from Region 6 and 11, while the remaining 4 cases were classified as ROFs.

The DOH said all additional XBB and XBC cases were local cases coming from Regions 1, 3, 4A, 6, 7, 11, CAR, and NCR. The additional delta case was a local case from Region 3.

While previous "variants of concern" like alpha and delta eventually petered out, omicron and its sublineages have dominated throughout 2022.

All omicron variants tend to have a milder disease course as they settle less in the lungs and more in the upper nasal passages, causing symptoms like fever, tiredness, and loss of smell.

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So far, the BA.5 is still the dominant strain in the Philippines, with 12,658 cases, according to the DOH.

It is followed by BA.2.3.20 with 3,881 cases, XBB with 949 cases, XBC with 610 cases, and BA.4 with 325 cases.

The country also has 38 BA.2.75 cases, 19 BQ.1 cases, 7 BF.7 cases and 4 BN.1 cases.

The Philippines has yet to detect omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, a descendant of XBB and XBB.1.

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— With a report from Agence France-Presse