MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has detected three more cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 in the country, driving the case tally of the subvariant to 17.
Omicron is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that leads to COVID-19.
READ: Omicron ‘most evolved variant of SARS-CoV-2‘ — PH Genome Center exec
“Tatlong kaso ng subvariant BA.2.12.1 ang na-detect natin sa Western Visayas: isang returning overseas Filipino mula sa United States na bakunado, at dalawang local cases — isang bakunado at ang isa ay vine-verify pa natin ang kanyang vaccination status,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a forum Tuesday.
(Three cases of subvariant BA.2.12.1 have been detected in Western Visayas: one vaccinated returning overseas Filipino from the United States, and two are local cases — one of them is vaccinated while the vaccination status of the other is under verification.)
“At present, meron na po tayong 17 detected Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 sa ating bansa,” added Vergeire, noting that one case is from a returning overseas Filipino while the rest are local cases.
(At present, we have 17 detected Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 in the country.)
Last week, the DOH reported the presence of BA.2.12.1 cases — two in Metro Manila and 12 in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.
READ: Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 now in NCR, Puerto Princesa
According to Vergeire, the initial 14 patients have all recovered. Verification of status is underway for the newly detected three cases.
The DOH has likewise announced the detection of local transmission of Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1.
READ: PH detects local transmission of Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1
The BA.2.12.1 is estimated to be around 20 percent more transmissible than the BA.2.
The Philippines has a COVID-19 case count of 3,688,292 as of May 16. From this total, 2,688 are active.
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