The Department of Health (DOH) announced on Thursday that a total of 80 new cases of the Omicron subvariant have been detected in the country.
According to the latest COVID-19 biosurveillance, out of these samples, 54 cases have been classified under the XBB designation.
The analysis of 82 samples was conducted by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center.
Within the XBB classification, there are various sublineages identified. Nine cases were identified as XBB.1.5, indicating a specific genetic variation within the XBB group. Additionally, 22 cases were classified as XBB.1.16, eight cases as XBB.1.9.1, four cases as XBB.1.9.2, five cases as XBB.2.3, and six cases fell into other distinct XBB sublineages.
Moreover, the DOH stated that 25 cases were categorized as BA.2.3.20, with one case falling under different Omicron subvariants.
Earlier this week, the DOH reported the country's initial instance of the FE.1 sublineage of the Omicron variant.
