A total of 671 new cases of Omicron subvariants have been detected in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
Majority of the cases or 468 were classified as Omicron subvariant BA.2.3.20, the DOH stated in its latest report.
It was followed by 149 cases of XBB (including three cases classified as XBB.1.5), nine cases of XBC, eight cases classified as BA.5 (including six cases classified as BQ.1), four as BN.1 (classified under BA.2.75), and 33 cases tagged as other Omicron sublineages.
Of the additional BA.2.3.20 cases, 460 were local cases from Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Soccsksargen, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Caraga, and the National Capital Region.
"One case was classified as a returning overseas Filipino (ROF), while the case type of the remaining seven are currently being verified," the DOH noted.
Among the 149 XBB cases, 146 were local cases from Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Soccsksargen, CAR, Caraga and NCR. The DOH is still currently verifying if the other three cases are local cases or ROFs.
The nine XBC cases were local cases from Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Soccsksargen, and Caraga.
Of the additional BA.5 cases (including six BQ.1 cases), seven were local cases from Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Soccsksargen, and NCR. "The case type of the remaining case is currently being verified," the DOH said.
Three of the newly reported BA.2.75 cases were ROFs while the remaining case was a local case from Metro Manila, the DOH said.
The DOH noted that the detection of these cases were based on the result of the genome sequencing conducted last Feb. 27 by University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).