The Department of Health has detected a new omicron subvariant XBB .1.9.1 which is classified by the World Health Organization as variant under monitoring.
Based on the latest biosurveillance report, the country has 54 XBB.1.9.1 cases.
Thirty-nine of the new cases are considered to be local cases and were detected out of 199 samples by the Philippine Genome Center.
The sequencing period was from April 3-11 according to the statement made by the DOH.
“The variant was initially flagged due to its increasing global prevalence and higher growth advantage,” the DOH said.
The Omicron subvariant has been detected in 63 countries.
“However, currently available evidence for XBB.1.9.1 does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant,” the DOH further added.
30 new XBB.1.5 cases, 70 BA.2.3.20 cases, two XBC cases, one CH.1.1 case, one BQ.1 case, and one BA.2 case have also been detected.
