THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday reported one additional case of the Omicron subvariant BQ.1, bringing to 17 the total number of infections of the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant.
“One case classified as BQ.1 was a local case from Region 6 (Western Visayas),” the DOH said.
The independent OCTA Research group has earlier said that the current jump in positivity rates in the National Capital Region (NCR) and several provinces are likely driven by the Omicron subvariant BQ.1.
The BQ.1, a sublineage of Omicron BA.5, is considered a variant of interest by the European Center for Disease Control. It is believed to be more contagious and immune-evasive.
Aside from BQ.1, the Philippine Genome Center (PCG) also detected 65 cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.3.20, of which one is a returning overseas Filipino (ROF) and 64 are local cases.
There were also 42 cases of the Omicron subvariant XBB, all of which are local cases coming from Western Visayas and the Calabarzon.
One case of Omicron subvariant BA.5 and two additional XBC cases were also detected in Western Visayas.
The PGC tagged six sequenced samples as other Omicron subvariants.
The latest cases were detected from 126 samples sequenced from November 21 to December 3. — Gerard Naval
