Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 17) — An infectious diseases expert on Friday said the recombination of existing Omicron subvariants in the country may have caused the development of a local case of the COVID-19 Omicron subvariant XBF who has no travel history.
“There is always a possibility that an individual, a single individual, may have a recombination of these two sublineages resulting to an XBF, which means that it can be that this XBF is also in our country without any history of travel and that is always a possibility of ongoing cases, ongoing transmission,” Dr. Rontgene Solante told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
\”It’s the virus’ behavior to really adapt to our immune system,\” he added.
Solante was referring to BA.5.2.3 and CJ.1, whose sublineage is Omicron XBF.
While it may have indicators that it is more transmissible compared with other subvariants, Solante noted that patients infected by XBF only exhibited mild symptoms.
He also said he believes “it will not significantly cause an increase in the cases in our country.”
“Because of the several waves of Omicron for the past month, we have developed a type of hybrid immunity. Our population immunity might be able to protect us from subsequent increase in the cases,” he explained.
Still, Solante reminded the public of the importance of following minimum health standards and getting booster shots.
The Department of Health said XBF was classified by the World Health Organization as a subvariant under monitoring.
Experts also warned the public about its “increasing prevalence” and link to recent case spikes in Australia and Sweden.
