924 new Omicron subvariant cases recorded
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines logged 924 additional cases of Omicron subvariants BA.5, BA.4, and BA.2.12.1 in various regions, the Department of Health reported Tuesday.
Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, said 906 new BA.5 cases were found in all regions in the country except for Northern Mindanao, Davao region, Soccsksargen, Caraga and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Of those, 814 individuals were tagged as recovered, while 49 are still undergoing isolation.
There are currently 4,013 detected BA.5 cases in the country.
Philippine Genome Center executive director Cynthia Saloma said Monday that 85% of the samples sequenced in the past month were composed of the BA.5 subvariant.
“We can probably say that this current wave is really the BA.5 here in our country,” Saloma said partly in Filipino.
Eleven more people from Bicol region, Western Visayas, Cordillera Administrative Region, and Metro Manila tested positive for the Omicron BA.4 subvariant, raising the total to 115.
Health authorities also detected seven additional BA.2.12.1 cases from Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, and Western Visayas. The detection raised the country’s total BA.12.1 cases to 181.
The Philippines recorded 27,331 additional COVID-19 cases — or an average of 3,904 a day — from August 1 to 7. This translated to a 13% increase from a week before.
Vergeire said that all areas in the country showed continuous uptrend, except Visayas, which manifested signs of plateauing.
The national risk classification remained low, with an average daily attack rate of 3.42 cases per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, Metro Manila and the Cordillera Administrative Region were still deemed at moderate risk for COVID-19 spread.
The health official also said that the utilization of intensive care unit beds in BARMM was at moderate risk.
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