Tuguegarao City, Cagayan – The Department of Health said in a presser on Friday, April 8, that the new COVID-19 ‘Omicron XE’ along with other recombinant variants have not been detected in the country yet.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an official statement, “We have not yet detected these so-called recombinant virus in the country. We have not yet detected XE, XF, and XD.”
The health department mentioned that it has been closely coordinating with the World Health Organization regarding the new hybrid of the BA.1 and BA.2 subvariants of the highly transmissible strain.
The Omicron XE was first detected in nearby Thailand last week, which prompted various health ministries including the DOH and the WHO to conduct immediate research on it.
What is the Omicron XE?
The Department of Health Technical Advisory Group & the UK Health Security Agency said the new ‘Omicron XE’ is more transmissible, but is not seen to cause severe infection and symptoms in patients.
‘Omicron XE’ is a recombination of two Omicron lineages and has shown signs of being more contagious than the original strains, however, it is not expected to evade vaccines or cause severe effects to the infected.
The DOH said further that it is not as severe as the Omicron variant that caused the surge in January of this year, and that it is closely tracking the new strain’s entry into PH. TNF