DOH sees local transmission of Omicron XBB subvariant, XBC variant

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 21) — The Department of Health on Friday confirmed the local transmission of the highly transmissible Omicron XBB subvariant and XBC variant.

“Definitely there is local transmission dahil lahat ito ay [because all of these are] local cases,” said Dr. Alethea de Guzman, DOH Epidemiology Bureau director, adding the detected cases cannot be linked to travel or exposure to someone with travel history outside of the country.

In a media forum, health officials released the data on detected cases for Omicron XBB subvariant and XBC variant, such as the number of cases per region and the profile of the five fatalities for the XBC variant.

READ: PH logs first Omicron XBB subvariant, XBC variant cases 

Out of the 81 XBB subvariant cases, 80 were recorded in Region 6 while one in Region 11.

For the XBC subvariant, most of the infections were logged in Region 11 and Region 12, with 70 and 99 cases, respectively.

Out of the five fatalities recorded for XBC in the country, De Guzman said one is fully vaccinated, two are unvaccinated, and the remaining two are still under verification.

She added that four cases had cardiovascular comorbidities.

De Guzman said the data shows local transmission, especially in Region 6 for the XBB and Regions 11 and 12 for the XBC, but the DOH still can’t confirm if it’s a nationwide or a wide-scale community transmission.

“Whether there is evidence or not of a large-scale community transmission, our actions have always been with the assumption na meron ng community transmission na nangyayari, kaya ine-enhance na natin ang ating response activities from the national down to the local level,” she said.

[Translation: Whether there is evidence or not of a large-scale community transmission, our actions have always been with the assumption that there is a community transmission happening, that’s why we are enhancing our response activities from the national down to the local level.]

The DOH on Tuesday said that the Omicron XBB subvariant has been the primary cause of the surge in COVID-19 cases in Singapore but the country has no sufficient evidence that the XBB subvariant causes more severe illness.

Meanwhile, the XBC variant is under monitoring and investigation by the United Kingdom Health Security Agency. It is said to be a recombinant of Delta and BA.2 variants.

Regions 6, 11 closely monitored

De Guzman said the DOH is closely monitoring Regions 6 and 11 as their utilization rates for COVID-19 dedicated beds are nearing the 50% threshold.

Region 6 is currently at 41% while Region 11 is at 42%, the health official said.

She said Regions 6, 7, 11, and 12 showed an increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19 patients in recent weeks, according to DOH data.

Also, health officials present in the forum noted that the high cases of Regions 11 and 12 for the XBC subvariant might be due to low vaccination rates and the close distance between the two regions.

However, they do not recommend stricter border controls or the reversal of the executive order that allows the optional wearing of face masks outdoors.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing is ano yong [what is the] status ng [of the] healthcare utilization and that remains low,” said Dr. Edsel Salvana of the DOH Technical Advisory Group.

“So, I don’t think we need to reverse (the mask mandate) pero siguro further reductions kailangan pag-isipan while we’re still waiting kung ano ba ang magiging impact kung mag-takeover itong XBB and XBC,” the infectious diseases expert added.

[Translation: So, I don’t think we need to reverse (the mask mandate) but maybe further reductions must be thought again while we’re still waiting what would be the impact if XBB and XBC take over.]

Furthermore, De Guzman said the percentage of BA.5, XBB, and XBC for both severe or critical cases and deaths remains to be low.

According to DOH data, Delta still has the highest number of severe and critical cases while the Alpha has the highest case fatality rate among the COVID-19 variants.

Dr. John Wong, co-founder and senior technical adviser of EpiMetrics, Inc., said the country is currently monitoring five Omicron sub-variants.

More sequencing and surveillance are needed to be able to get a clearer picture for the case projection of XBB and XBC, he added.