The Department of Health has reported seven new cases of COVID-19 subvariant Arcturus on Sunday bringing the total number of cases of the subvariant to 11.
The DOH said the two new Arcturus cases were identified in Central Luzon and another two in the Western Visayas. One case was detected in the Bicol Region, Mimaropa, and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The samples were sequenced by the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), and the University of the Philippines – Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC).
The World Health Organization identifies arcturus as ‘variant of interest’ while the European Union considers it as a ‘variant under monitoring’.
The DOH is urging the to follow health protocols such as wearing face masks as needed, and getting vaccinated and boosted.
