MANILA — The Philippines has detected 656 additional cases of highly contagious offshoots of omicron COVID-19 variant, the Department of Health said Monday.

The country found 624 new cases of the omicron BA.5, 13 more cases of the BA.4, a case of BA.2.12.1 and 18 tagged as "other sublineages," latest figures from DOH show.

Of the new BA.5 cases, many are found in Metro Manila (134), Cordillera Administrative Region (119) and Calabarzon (61).

Meanwhile, BA.4 cases were reported in Soccsksargen (11), and Central Luzon and Central Visayas both tallied a case.

Central Luzon also had a case of BA.2.12.1, the DOH said.

These are results of the latest sequencing run conducted as of Sept. 2, according to the DOH data.

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

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

The BA.4 and BA.5 types have in particular helped to drive a wave of new cases of the disease in Europe and the United States in recent months.

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.

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 72.6 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Of the tally, almost 18.2 million have received their additional jab while 2.3 million have gotten their second booster shots.

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more News on iWantTFC

— With a report from Agence France-Presse