Philippines detects 3 more cases of omicron subvariant XBB.1.5; total now 6

MANILA —The Philippines has detected 3 additional cases of omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, raising its tally to 6, according to the Department of Health.

The new XBB.1.5 infections are local cases, the DOH's latest COVID-19 biosurveillance report showed.

XBB.1.5, dubbed the "Kraken," is the most transmissible COVID-19 subvariant so far, experts have said.

The DOH also detected 118 new cases of omicron subvariants.

These include 60 cases of BA.2.3.20, 30 cases of XBB, 8 cases of XBC and 20 cases tagged as other omicron sublineages.

These are results of the latest sequencing run conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and the University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center Mindanao from Feb. 20 to 24, the agency said.

Of the additional BA.2.3.20 cases, 59 were local cases from Regions 2, 3, 4B, 11, 12, and NCR while one case was classified as a returning overseas Filipino, the DOH said.

Among the 33 recently reported XBB cases, 1 case was an ROF while 32 were local cases from Regions 3, 4B, 11, 12, and Caraga, including 3 XBB.1.5 cases.

Meanwhile, all additional XBC cases were local cases from Regions 4B, 11, and 12, the DOH added.

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To date, the BA.5 is still the dominant strain in the Philippines, with 12,721 cases.

As of March 1, the Philippines has 9,230 active COVID-19 cases.

Since the pandemic started, the country has recorded 4,076,418 coronavirus infections, of which 66,118 resulted in deaths.

To date, more than 73.8 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Of the figure, some 21.5 million people have received their first boosters while 3.9 million have gotten their second boosters.

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