The Philippines has detected an Omicron subvariant XBF, the latest data from the Department of Health (DOH) released on Wednesday showed.
In its latest COVID-19 biosurveillance report, DOH said one case of XBF was recorded last January 28.
It said that XBF is a recombinant sublineage of BA.5.2.3 and CJ.1, both associated with the recent increases in the case in Australia and Sweden.
According to the health department, Australia's wastewater analysis showed 55 percent of total cases in Victoria in Australia are XBF.
"Preliminary studies also show that many of Australia’s antiviral treatments against COVID-19 were no longer effective against multiple Omicron subvariants circulating in the country, including XBF," it said.
But DOH noted that no sufficient evidence suggests "any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant."
Meanwhile, the DOH also reported that from January onwards, BA.2.3.20 subvariant is the most detected variant in the country with 40.20 percent of samples sequenced with assigned lineages.
This was followed by the XBB subvariant with 30.07 percent.
