THE Department of Health yesterday said 79 additional cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Omicron subvariants have been detected in its latest genome sequencing.
In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the of the figure, 60 were BA.5 cases, 17 BA.2.12.1 cases, and 2 BA.4 cases.
“At the moment, exposure of individuals is still unknown and travel histories are being verified,” said Vergeire.
For the additional BA.5 cases, Vergeire said 58 were from Western Visayas, and one each from the Davao Region and Soccsksargen.
One individual is unvaccinated while the vaccination status of the other 59 individuals is still being verified.
One of the patients presented mild symptoms while the disease severity of the other 59 are still being verified.
The DOH said 43 individuals are now tagged as recovered and 14 are still undergoing isolation. They are still checking condition of the remaining three.
There are now already 293 cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.5 in the country.
On the other hand, among the additional BA.2.12.1 cases, six individuals are from Western Visayas, 10 from Davao Region, and 1 returning overseas Filipino.
At the moment, the vaccination status of all 17 individuals is still being verified.
The DOH said there were two who experienced mild symptoms, 1 had severe symptoms, 1 individual was asymptomatic, while the remaining 13 are still being verified.
A total of 15 individuals are now tagged as recovered while the remaining 2 are still undergoing isolation.
In all, there are already 87 cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1.
For the additional BA.4 cases, the cases were each found in Davao Region and Soccsksargen. There was 1 fully vaccinated while the other case is unvaccinated.
Both cases presented mild symptoms, according to the DOH, and they are now both tagged as recovered.
In all, there are already 12 cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.4.
Despite the continuous detection of Omicron subvariant cases, the health department said they cannot declare yet that there is community transmission because “we still need to complete our analysis.”
A community transmission means that the linkages of cases in the country can no longer be established.
Nevertheless, Vergeire said it would be better if the public will adopt a mindset that there is already a continuous transmission of the Omicron subvariants and be more cautious, especially when in public spaces.
METRO MANILA
The DOH said that based on its latest projections, Metro Manila’s daily COVID-19 cases may surge to more than 11,000 by the end of July if adherence to minimum public health standards (MPHS) continues to decline.
“Based on our latest FASSSTER projections dated June 24, 2022, daily cases in NCR (National Capital Region) may reach as high as 11,186 by the end of July,” said the DOH.
The health department said improving MPHS compliance rate may slow down the surge in cases.
“Improving our MPHS compliance shows an uptrend but at a slower rate, with daily cases ranging from 4,651 to 6,037 per day,” it said.
As of July 11, Metro Manila’ seven-day average cases was listed at 710.
For its part, the independent OCTA Research believes that there is strong likelihood that cases in the NCR have already peaked based on several metrics.
“The indicators show a slowing down of the growth in cases and there is a chance that cases in the NCR are peaking or have already peaked,” said OCTA fellow Guido David in a social media post.
“The trends should be clearer after a week,” he added.
David noted how the weekly growth rate in the NCR decreased to 32 percent as of July 11, from 57 percent as of July 4.
Similarly, the reproduction number in Metro Manila decreased to 1.47 as of July 8, from 1.59 as of July 1.
OCTA also noted that NCR’s positivity rate was at 10.9 percent as of July 10, while its average daily attack rate is 4.93 per 100,000 population.
OPTIONAL FACE MASK
With COVID-19 cases still high, the DOH does not believe that the country is already prepared to adopt an optional face mask policy.
Vergeire said adopting an optional face mask policy may only be considered once the country reaches the necessary immunity level against COVID-19.
“The proposal or option (of having an) optional face mask mandate in outdoor places (is there), but there are conditions for us to reach that,” said Vergeire.
“That is once we have increased the wall of immunity. That is the main condition before we can already have face mask wearing optional,” she added.
The health official said this is in accordance with the pronouncements of President Marcos Jr., who floated the idea of making face masks optional, instead of mandatory, over the weekend.
Vergeire said increasing the wall of immunity refers to the continued improvement of the COVID-19 vaccines coverage, including booster shots.
“How do we now improve or increase that wall of immunity? That is by having our booster shots for the population increased,” said Vergeire.
