DOH: Too early to say there is local transmission of Omicron subvariant 

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday said it is too early to say if there is already a local transmission of the COVID-19 Omicron BA.2.12.1 despite the detection of subvariants from two Filipinos in Metro Manila without travel history outside the country.

“It’s too early for us to say that there is local transmission,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a public briefing, adding that more evidence is needed to determine if there is already a local transmission.

Vergeire also said that the DOH is currently conducting surveillance to determine the source of these cases.

The Health department’s spokesperson previously announced that two fully-vaccinated and boosted individuals in Metro Manila got the subvariant. The two, who only experienced mild symptoms and are now tagged as asymptomatic and recovered, have 39 asymptomatic close contacts.

Despite this, the country is not seeing a significant increase of cases in Metro Manila due to the variant so far, according to Vergeire.

“Inspite of this detection, which was detected around third and fourth week of April, we did not see any significant increase of cases in any area, even here in NCR,” Vergeire added.

Aside from the two local cases, the DOH also detected 12 cases of BA.2.12.1 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

As of Saturday, the country reported 3,687,748 cases, including 3,122 active infections, 3,624,171 recoveries and 60,455 deaths, according to DOH.

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Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 now in NCR, Puerto Princesa 

JPV