MANILA — The Philippines has detected 929 additional cases of highly contagious offshoots of omicron COVID-19 variant, the Department of Health said Wednesday.

The country found 889 new cases of the omicron BA.5, 16 more cases of the BA.4, four cases of BA.2.12.1, two cases of BA.2.75 and 18 tagged as "other sublineages," latest figures from DOH show.

Of the new BA.5 cases, many are found in Western Visayas (211), Metro Manila (126) and Central Luzon (111).

Meanwhile, BA.4 cases were reported in Soccsksargen (4); 2 each in Metro Manila, Ilocos Region, Bicol Region, and Central Visayas; and, one each in Central Luzon, Western Visayas, Calabarzon and CAR.

Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula, Calabarzon and Mimaropa each had a case of BA.2.12.1, the DOH said.

For BA.2.75 cases, Western Visayas and Central Visayas have one each.

These are results of the latest sequencing run conducted on Aug. 26-29, according to the DOH data.

• PH records 19,262 COVID cases in past week; 316 deaths tallied

The omicron offshoots BA.4 and BA.5 have partly driven a wave of new cases of the disease in parts of the world.

They were first discovered in South Africa and spread rapidly despite high population immunity conferred by prior waves and vaccinations.

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

In the past week, the Philippines logged 19,262 additional COVID-19 cases.

From Aug. 22 to 28, the country recorded an average of 2,752 daily infections, which is 19 percent lower compared to the previous week.

To date, more than 72.5 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Of the tally, almost 18 million have received their additional jab while 2.2 million have gotten their second booster shots.

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— With a report from Agence France-Presse