Tuguegarao City, Cagayan – The Department of Health on Friday, June 3, has confirmed the first 2 cases of the Omicron BA.5 subvariant in the country from 2 locals without confirmed travel history.
The DOH told reporters that the new strain was detected from two people from Central Luzon as confirmed in their biosurveillance report on Tuesday, May 31 from samples processed by the Philippine Genome Center.
Health Usec Rosario Vergeire said the two patients who live under the same roof are fully-vaccinated and have received their booster doses.
Vergeire also stressed that both patients have no history of travel prior to their infection.
Based on DOH’s report, both patients experienced symptoms such as colds and coughing upon infection but are now fully recovered.
As for contact tracing, one household member of the individuals have recently tested positive for COVID-19 while others are now placed on strict quarantine.
The DOH has repeatedly told the media that it takes more than 3 weeks for the Philippine Genome Center to produce results of samples tracing COVID-19 variants.
Other Omicron subvariants in the country
With multiple sublineages in the world today, the Omicron’s strains have brought confusion due to its many variations, their high transmissibility and rampant worldwide presence.
The health department has detected the BA.1, BA.2 stealth sublineage, the BA.2.12.1 subvariant and the BA.4 strain in the country.
However, a combination of both the BA.1 and BA.2 called the “XE” has not yet been traced by the DOH in the Philippines. TNF
*This is a developing story*