Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. INQUIRER.net file photo
MANILA, Philippines — The country has recorded 27 new cases of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 or “Arcturus,” which brings the total number of infections to 292, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday.
All 27 cases of Arcturus — a sublineage of the XBB subvariant, considered a variant of interest by the World Health Organization (WHO) — were from Western Visayas.
Based on the June 13 DOH’s latest biosurveillance report, specifically, 73 new Omicron subvariants of COVID-19 were logged in the province, including the Arcturus cases.
Below are the other fresh Omicron infections as of June 23, according to the DOH:
- 18 XBB.2.3
- 12 XBB.1.9.1
- 2 XBB.1.5
- 2 XBB.1.9.2
- 9 BA.2.3.20
- 2 other XBB subvariants
- 1 other sublineage
The results were from the genome sequencing done by the Baguio General Hospital Medical Center and the University of the Philippines – Philippine Genome Center in Visayas, with results released on May 23.
The health agency recorded 297 new COVID-19 infections on June 27. Based on its latest tracker, the Philippines’ total caseload was 4,163,472, with 7,760 active cases, 4,089,229 recoveries, and 66,483 deaths.
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