MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED April 26) — The Philippines has detected its first case of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, which has been designated as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization.
The country’s first confirmed XBB.1.16 case was detected in Western Visayas, the Department of Health said in its latest COVID-19 biosurveillance report.
The subvariant, also known as Arcturus, has now been detected in 33 countries. It is driving a surge in COVID-19 cases in India.
“The variant was initially flagged due to its increasing global prevalence and for having mutations which may lead to increase in infectivity or pathogenicity,” the DOH said.
“However, currently available evidence for XBB.1.16 does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant,” it added.
The Philippine Genome Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and San Lazaro Hospital also detected 13 XBB.1.5 cases, 14 XBB.1.9.1 cases, 28 BA.2.3.20 cases, 12 BA.5 cases, three XBC cases, and three other Omicron sublineages.
The Philippines is seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases as more people go out and as the economy continues to reopen. Despite the rise in infections, the country’s healthcare utilization rates remain low, the DOH said.