DOH detects 32 more Omicron BA.5 cases

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UPDATED MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health has detected 32 additional Omicron BA.5 subvariant cases, which is said to be more contagious than its other versions.

According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday, the new BA.5 cases are from:

Region 6 (Western Visayas) – 21 cases
Region 4A (Calabarzon) – 4 cases
National Capital Region – 4 cases
Region 3 (Central Luzon) – 3 cases

Vergeire noted that nine of the cases in Western Visayas are from one workplace cluster while three are from a household cluster.

Of the 32 BA.5 cases, 16 patients have recovered, 14 are under isolation, while the other two are still being verified.

Thirty of the new BA.5 patients were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one is partially vaccinated, and the other individual is still under verification, Vergeire enumerated.

Five of them were asymptomatic, 22 were with mild symptoms, and the COVID severity of the other five individuals are still being verified.

Currently, the exposure of individuals is still unknown and their travel histories are under verification.

Based on the latest sequencing run, the country has now 43 total cases of BA.5 variant.

In January this year, the Omicron variant brought the Philippines its highest number of coronavirus cases, reaching over 39,000 due to its high rate of transmission.

EDV/abc/JMS