MANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippines has detected its first case of omicron subvariant FE.1, according to the Department of Health.

According to DOH's latest COVID-19 biosurveillance report, FE.1 is a sublineage of XBB, which was added to the list of variants under monitoring by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on June 1.

So far, the FE.1, also known as XBB.1.18.1.1, has been detected in 35 countries or jurisdictions across 6 continents.

"However, currently available evidence for the variant does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant," the DOH report said.

"Limited information is available for the variant and researchers are currently characterizing FE.1 in terms of transmissibility, immune evasion, and ability to cause more severe disease," it added.

SEVERE INFECTION?

In a televised public briefing Tuesday, an infectious diseases expert said the FE.1 may cause severe infection among the highly vulnerable population.

"It may not be totally different as those XBB. So, most likely, it can still cause severe infection but only for those the highly vulnerable like the elderly population," said Dr. Rontgene Solante, president of the Philippine College of Physicians.

He said the new subvariant may cause mild symptoms particularly among the younger population, which is similar to other omicron variants that primarily affect the upper respiratory tract.

"We would expect the same clinical manifestation as that of omicron. Ubo, lagnat, sore throat, pananakit sa katawan, and mostly, these are very mild," Solante said.

"Most of the time especially 'pag mga younger population hindi kailangan gamutin at hindi magpo-proceed dun sa severe form of infection."

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The DOH biosurveillance report also revealed 2,215 other offshoots of omicron were also detected in the country.

Some 1,939 were classified as XBB.

Health authorities also detected 206 cases of BA.2.3.20, 34 as XBC, 4 as BA.5, 6 as BA.2.75, and 26 as other omicron sublineages.

These were results of the samples sequenced by the Southern Philippines Medical Center and the University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center last May 29 to June 12.

The Philippines on Monday recorded 505 new coronavirus infections, raising its tally to 4,159,815. Of the figure, some 8,659 are active COVID-19 cases.

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