Babatunde Olowokure, the regional emergency director of the World Health Organization (WHO)-Western Pacific region, emphasized during a recent briefing the importance of caution in response to the detection of another sublineage of the Omicron variant, XBB.1.9.1, in the Philippines.
Although the discovery of the new sublineage of the Omicron variant in the Philippines indicates that the country's surveillance systems are functioning well, health authorities must maintain caution and take measures to minimize any potential negative impact that this new subvariant may have on healthcare resources.
"We can look at this in two ways—the fact that the Philippines has detected this [variant] is good news because it shows that the system is working," Olowokure told reporters.
Olowokure noted that the transmission of XBB.1.9.1 may pose a challenge to the country's health systems, but he assured reporters that this new subvariant is not likely to result in a massive outbreak.
This recent development comes as the Philippines is experiencing a slight increase in COVID-19 cases.
However, Olowokure explained that the situation appears to be controllable at the moment. Nonetheless, he reminded everyone to remain cautious and vigilant in their response to the new development.
"As we have seen, there’s a slight increase in cases… but I think, at the moment, we’re looking at something which appears to be controllable," he added.
The Department of Health (DOH) has detected a total of 54 cases of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.1 in the Philippines.
As of Thursday, the DOH had documented a total of 4,084,626 COVID-19 cases, with 9,533 active cases.
