THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday reported over 1,300 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Omicron subvariants have been detected in the country during the latest genome sequencing run.
Data released by the health department showed that there were 605 additional BA.5 cases, 18 additional BA.4 cases, five additional BA.2.75 cases, and 680 cases of other Omicron sublineages.
The DOH also reported 94 additional cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19.
The additional BA.5 cases were detected in all regions, except in Eastern Visayas, and in two returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs).
On the other hand, of the 18 additional BA.4 cases, 15 came from Soccsksargen, and one each from Cagayan Valley, Bicol Region, and Northern Mindanao.
Among the additional BA.2.75 cases, the DOH said one case each were detected in Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, Central Visayas, and Davao Region, plus one ROF.
For the other Omicron sublineages, they were detected in all regions except in Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Caraga.
In all, there were a total of 1,574 samples subjected to the genome sequencing run from October 7 until 10.
With cases due to variants and subvariants still being detected in the country, the DOH yesterday said it does not believe that the COVID state of calamity should already be lifted by President Marcos.
In a press conference, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they don’t believe observations of some groups that it is already time to lift the state of calamity ahead of its December 31 expiration given the stable number of cases in recent weeks.
“This is not just in the number of COVID-19 cases that we are looking at,” said Vergeire, who is the DOH officer-in-charge.
Aside from having a stable number of cases, Vergeire said the country must also have high vaccination coverage and low hospital utilization rates before the declaration is lifted.
“With the plateauing of cases, an improved vaccination coverage, and minimal severe and critical case admissions in hospitals, we can recommend to the President the lifting the State of Calamity,” said Vergeire.
According to the DOH, the Plus areas (Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal) remain on an upward trend, while Mindanao is showing incremental increase in cases.
On the other hand, the National Capital Region and the rest of Luzon are currently showing signs of plateauing, while Visayas maintains a plateau.
In a related development, the Department of Education (DepEd) said it will let local government units provide data on the number of COVID-19 cases in schools so as to prevent confusion and avoid conflicting figures.
DepEd spokesperson Michael Tan Poa said allowing local epidemiology and surveillance units of LGUs to collate data on COVID-19 cases in their respective jurisdictions is provided under DepEd Order No. 39, series of 2022.
He said that under the said DepEd Order, schools are tasked to report to their respective local epidemiology and surveillance units if any of their teacher, staff or students are infected with COVID-19, with the LGUs doing the verification and follow ups.
Schools are also tasked to closely coordinate with the LGUs and their health units, as well as to monitor student absences to see if it is due to a single event, such as COVID-19 infection.
“We will really just defer to the LGUs kasi ang layunin natin ay maiwasan natin ‘yung pagbigay ng conflicting numbers sa public (We will just defer to the LGUs since our goal is to avoid giving conflicting numbers to the public),” Poa said. — With Ashzel Hachero
