The Philippines has logged more cases of the Omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.2.12.1, according to the Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday.
In a media briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country reported six more cases of the BA.5 subvariant and 10 new cases of the BA.2.12.1 subvariant following the latest genome sequencing run results released on June 13.
Of the six new BA.5 cases, Vergeire said two are from Metro Manila; one each from Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, and Northern Mindanao; and one with a still unverified address.
Five of these individuals are now tagged as recovered, while one is under home isolation, she added.
Meanwhile, four of the newly detected BA.2.12.1 cases are from Metro Manila; two from Calabarzon; one each from Cagayan Valley, Bicol region, Western Visayas; and one is a returning overseas Filipino.
"Three individuals are fully vaccinated while the vaccination status of the rest is still being verified. One individual is still active while eight are now tagged as recovered. The remaining case is still being verified,” Vergeire noted in her presentation.
So far, the DOH is still looking at the travel and exposure histories of all new BA.5 and BA.2.12.1 patients.
In total, Vergeire said the country has 11 confirmed BA.5 cases and 39 confirmed BA.2.12.1 cases.
However, she clarified that the entry of the new subvariants is not seen as directly related to the increase in infections nationwide.
"Gusto lang natin iklaro na ng ating genetic sequencing, we cannot test everybody. So, having said that, we cannot really be very certain na itong driver ng ating infections sa ngayon would be the subvariants," she said.
