A new Omicron subvariant of the Covid-19 virus, named as XBB, is not yet detected in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
“As of Oct. 13, we have not detected the said variant in the Philippines,” the DOH said in a brief statement on Thursday, Oct. 13.
The state health agency assured the public that it is continuously conducting surveillance to detect possible new variants of the Covid-19 virus in the country.
“The DOH, in partnership with our local sequencing facilities, is continuously conducting surveillance to monitor the importation of this variant and other emerging SARS-CoV2- variants,” it said.
This new subvariant is a “recombinant” of Omicron strains BJ.1 (BA.2.10.1 sublineage) and BM.1.1.1 (BA.2.75 sublineage), the DOH said.
“Preliminary studies suggest that the sublineage shows higher immune evasion ability than the BA.5,” the DOH said.
Omicron subvariant XBB has already been detected in some countries such as Singapore, Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, India, Japan and the United States.