REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s confirmed death toll due to the Omicron variant rose to five after the Department of Health (DOH) recorded the death of three other patients infected with it.
“As per verification, we have five recorded deaths. Three are seniors and all have comorbidities. One was partially vaccinated, one unvaccinated, and the other three are still for verification,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters in a Viber message.
In an earlier television interview, Vergeire initially said there were three deaths among patients who were infected with the Omicron variant.
The DOH earlier reported the first two deaths of Omicron carriers on January 19. One of the fatalities is from Metro Manila and the other is from Central Luzon. According to DOH, both were over 60 years old, unvaccinated, and had preexisting medical conditions.
The DOH has yet to provide more details about the three more fatalities.
The health department has so far confirmed 535 cases of the Omicron variant among sequenced samples as of January 19.
READ: DOH reports 492 more cases of Omicron variant