The Department of Health (DOH) has detected a total of 54 cases of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.1 in the Philippines.
According to the department's latest Covid-19 biosurveillance report, 39 XBB.1.9.1 cases were found among the 199 samples sequenced by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center from April 3 to 11.
"The XBB.1.9.1 is an XBB sublineage that was recently added to the list of variants under monitoring by the WHO last March 30," the DOH said.
"The variant was initially flagged due to its increasing global prevalence and higher growth advantage," it added.
Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.1 has been detected in 63 countries or jurisdictions across six continents.
"However, currently available evidence for XBB.1.9.1 does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant," the DOH continued.
The department reported 199 Omicron variant cases including the following lineages:
- BA.2.3.20 - 70 cases
- CH.1.1 - 1 case
- BQ.1 - 1 case
- XBB.1.5 - 30 cases
- XBB.1.9.1 - 39 cases
- Other XBB sublineages - 45 cases
- XBC - 2 cases
- Other Omicron sublineages - 1 case
- No lineage assigned - 10 cases
As of Thursday, the DOH had documented a total of 4,084,626 COVID-19 cases, with 9,533 active cases.
