Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 13) — Cases of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.1 have been detected in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday.
According to the DOH’s latest COVID-19 biosurveillance report, the country has found 54 cases of the Omicron subvariant.
\”The XBB.1.9.1 is a XBB sublineage that was recently added to the list of variants under monitoring by the WHO last March 30,\” the DOH explained.
Sequenced samples by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) released on April 3 to 11 only showed 39 cases.
According to the center, 22 cases were found in the Davao Region, seven in the Ilocos Region, and four in the National Capital Region.
Central Visayas and Soccsksargen recorded one case each.
The remaining four cases were returning overseas Filipinos.
According to the DOH, the XBB.1.9.1 was initially flagged due to its \”increasing global prevalence and higher growth advantage.\”
\”The variant has been detected in 63 countries or jurisdictions across six continents, according to sequence submissions in GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data),\” the agency said.
But it also noted that currently available evidence for the subvariant \”does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant.\”
In total, samples sequenced by the UP-PGC from April 3 to 11 showed 199 cases of Omicron. Of the number, 185 were local infections while 14 were returning overseas Filipinos.
The center released the following findings:
— BA.2.3.20 – 70
— CH.1.1 – 1
— BQ.1 – 1
— XBB.1.5 – 30
— XBB.1.9.1 – 39
— Other XBB sublineages – 45
— XBC – 2
— Other Omicron sublineages – 1
— No lineage assigned – 10
The country has seen over 4 million cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic started in 2020. The DOH recently reported 9,533 active cases.
