The daily number of Covid-19 cases in the Philippines remained over 2,000 on Sunday, Oct. 16, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
Based on the DOH Covid-19 tracker, a total of 2,321 more coronavirus infections were confirmed in the past 24 hours.
These cases raised the number of active infections nationwide to 26,003.
Metro Manila still posted the most number of new cases in the last two weeks with 10,399, followed by Calabarzon with 5,228, Central Luzon with 2,745, Davao region with 1,429, and Western Visayas with 1,222.
Since the start of the pandemic, 3.98 million people in the Philippines have been infected with the Covid-19 virus, wherein 3.89 million patients have recovered, while 63,510 people have died.
Omicron subvariant XBB
Health expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said that there is a possibility that XBB subvariant of Omicron have already entered the Philippines since the country has opened up its borders.
“Hindi natin ma-rule out yan kasi unang-una, ang mga tine-test natin ngayon for sequencing, hindi na ganoon karami ang mga samples. Pangalawa, we have an open border. We have daily flights with Singapore,” said Solante in an interview with radio DZBB on Sunday.
“There’s a possibility that this variant can also be present here, but we don’t know. We don’t know yet kasi hindi pa naman nakikita doon sa Philippine Genome Center,” he added.
In a recent statement, the DOH said this Omicron subvariant is not yet present in the country.
The Omicron XBB has already been detected in some countries such as Singapore, Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, India, Japan and the United States.
The DOH said “preliminary studies suggest that the sublineage shows higher immune evasion ability than the BA.5.”
Solante urged the public to remain vigilant and still observe health and safety protocols.