Digital interpretation of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant INQUIRER.net file photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) reported on Wednesday the death of two COVID-hit patients who were found carriers of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
These, the DOH added, are the first reported fatalities from among those infected with Omicron. It likewise said that these two cases were detected during the latest whole-genome sequencing.
“There were two reported deaths among our Omicron cases,” the DOH told reporters in a Viber message thread. “Both deaths were aged more than 60 years, unvaccinated, and had pre-existing medical conditions.”
It likewise said that the two patients were from Metro Manila and Central Luzon.
“While Omicron mostly presents with asymptomatic and mild disease, our data shows that those most at risk for fatalities are still the elderly and those with co-morbidities and unvaccinated,” the DOH added.
Also on Wednesday, the health agency reported the detection of 492 more cases of Omicron out of the 714 samples that underwent genomic sequencing.
Of the recently-detected Omicron cases, 332 were local and 160 were imported since the samples were taken from returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs), according to the DOH.
In total, the country now has 535 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant, the DOH said.
SARS-COV-2 is the latest strain of coronavirus that causes severe respiratory illness COVID-19. It was first detected in late 2019 in China. Since 2020, SARS-CoV-2 went through a number of mutations that resulted in different variants including Delta and Omicron which are said to be the most contagious yet of all variations.
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