PH detects 79 new COVID-19 Omicron sub-variant infections

MANILA, Philippines  — Seventy nine new cases of the  COVID-19 Omicron subvariants were detected and recorded by the Department of Health (DOH) from July 7 to 11.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a media briefing on Tuesday, said 60 of the said cases were of the BA.5 subvariant; 17 were BA.2.12.1; and two were BA.4.

Of the BA.5 infections, 58 were recorded in Western Visayas, while one was recorded each in the Davao and Soccsksargen regions.

“Sa kasalukuyan hindi pa rin po natin matukoy ang exposure ng individuals dahil we are still verifying their histories,” said Vergeire.

(Currently we still cannot determine the exposure of individuals because we are still verifying their history.)

Vergeire said 43 of the patients have already recovered, 14 are still under isolation, while three are still being verified.

Based on the latest sequencing run, the total recorded cases of BA.5 infections is now at 293, according to Vergeire.

(REUTERS)

Meanwhile, Vergeire also reported that six of the 17 new BA.2.12.1 cases were from Western Visayas, 10 from the Davao region, while one was a returning overseas Filipino.

Fifteen of them are now considered recovered while the two others are still under isolation.

A total of 87 cases of this variant have so far been recovered, based on the latest sequencing run.

Further, two individuals, one each from the Davao and Soccsksargen regions have also tested positive for the Omicron BA.4 subvariant.

Vergeire said that both cases presented mild symptoms and are now tagged as recovered.

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