The Department of Health (DoH) is in “constant coordination” with the World Health Organization and the Philippine Genome Center following a reported case of Omicron XE in Bangkok, Thailand.
The DOH said in a statement that observation and monitoring are still ongoing on whether the variant would be categorized as a sub-variant of Omicron or a new variant to be named by WHO should it display any significant change in characteristics.
XE is recombinant of two Omicron variants, BA.1 and BA.2.
The DoH reminded the public to get vaccinated and adhere to the minimum health standards.
It added that the government was taking steps to prevent the entry of the variant after the WHO estimated that the Omicron XE is 10 percent more infectious than the BA.2 even as the severity of the new variant is still being investigated.