MANILA — A public health expert on Monday expressed concern over the presence of omicron subvariant BF.7 in the country, which is reportedly fueling COVID-19 infections in China.

The Philippines has so far detected 4 cases of BF.7.

"Well, that is a concern considering that we are not having accurate information coming from China and China has a past history of not disclosing the number of cases, the number of deaths," Dr. Tony Leachon told ANC's "Headstart".

The former adviser of the Philippine government's coronavirus task force noted the delay of the World Health Organization's declaration of the Chinese outbreak of COVID-19 in January 2020, which he said led to the global pandemic.

"We have around 2 million Chinese visitors every year and because of the lack of solid plans in terms of the procurement of the bivalent vaccines, which can address the old Wuhan strain and the new variants, this may be a concern," Leachon continued.

The BF.7 is a sublineage of the BA.5 and has been classified as a "variant under monitoring" due to its increasing prevalence globally.

"The variant was initially flagged by the researchers due to its potential to be more transmissible than the wild type BA.5 and immune evading properties," the Department of Health has said.

"However, currently available evidence for BF.7 does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original omicron variant," it added.

• BF.7 subvariant detected in Philippines; daily COVID cases may top 4,000 by January

Daily new COVID-19 infections in China are believed to have reached several hundred million based on figures released by regional authorities, amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus since the government significantly relaxed its strict antivirus measures earlier this month.

Zhejiang Province in eastern China said Sunday the number of new daily COVID-19 cases in the area has topped 1 million and that the figure is expected to double around the turn of the year.

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The eastern port city of Qingdao and the major southern city of Dongguan have each said daily new infections have reached 500,000 and up to 300,000, respectively.

Amid criticism that the government's official COVID-19 infection data have not been reflecting the reality on the ground, the National Health Commission delegated Sunday the task of releasing the numbers of infections and deaths to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an institution under its wing.

• Estimated several million daily COVID cases in China amid virus surge

Despite the threat of BF.7, Leachon sees a silver lining for the Philippines.

More than 73 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, he said.

As of December 21, over 21 million have already received their additional jab, DOH figures show.

"The only problem that we see right now is the lack of a secretary of health that can really guide us on the strategic goal for [2023]," Leachon said.

Nationally, detected COVID-19 cases are at a plateau with 973 average daily cases for the week of December 16-22, which is 5 percent lower compared to the previous week, the DOH has said.

The country recorded a 21.73 percent utilization rate of total available COVID-19 beds, the agency said. Severe and critical admissions made up 10.57 percent of total COVID-19 related admissions, including those in the emergency room.

"I think we'll be able to sail through this particular threat coming from the BF.7 and of course, the looming surge of cases in China," Leachon said.

• China stops publishing COVID-19 data amid rise in infections

— With a report from Kyodo News