Philippines detects Omicron subvariant BA.5

The Philippines has detected the Omicron subvariant BA.5 in two individuals from the same household in Region III, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said both individuals have unknown exposure as they do not have any travel history.

“Maliban sa pagpunta sa election precinct at opisina nila dito sa National Capital Region (NCR), wala pong travel history ang dalawang indibidwal,” Vergeire said at a media briefing.

(Aside from going to their election precinct and office here in the National Capital Region, these two have no travel history.)

She said the cases developed symptoms on May 15 and immediately underwent home isolation from May 16 until May 30.

They are now asymptomatic and recovered.

“We’d just like to emphasize that even though sequencing results have not come out at nag test pa lang sila na positive, kung ano man po ‘yung management natin for anybody who have symptoms, for anybody who turns positive, it is still the same, with or without the sequencing result,” she said.

(We’d just like to emphasize that even though sequencing results have not come out and they only tested positive, whatever the management was for them or for anybody who has symptoms, for anybody who turns positive, it is still the same.)

In a message to reporters, the DOH said one of the two cases is a female in her late thirties while the other is a male in his early fifties.

Meanwhile, the DOH has identified two close contacts, one of which tested positive for COVID-19. Both are still undergoing isolation.

“We have not subjected this close contact sa sequencing. Sinubmit pa lang ‘yung sample niya. Nauna ‘yung dalawa. ‘Yung isang close contact na nag positive ay ise-sequence pa lang,” she said.

(We have not subjected this close contact to the sequencing. We just submitted the sample. The other two went first. This close contact that tested positive will still undergo sequencing.)

BA.4 subvariant

Vergeire said the BA.4, which was detected in May in a Filipino who flew in from the Middle East, and the BA.5 subvariants share similar characteristics.

“Makikitang hindi nakakadulot ng kritikal at malubha ang mga panibagong variants at halos pareho lamang ang characteristics ng BA.5 at BA.4. Kaya gagana pa rin ang ating protocols at health measures,” she said.

(We can see that the variants do not cause critical or severe infection and the BA.5 and the BA.4 almost share the same characteristics so our protocols and health measures will still work.)

“Upang mas maging sigurado (to be more sure), of course, let’s get the jab done and get your boosters done,” she added.

COVID-19 cases

Meanwhile, Vergeire said there was a slight uptick in cases in mid-May in the NCR, Plus areas such as Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan, and the rest of Luzon.

“At dahil sa kaonting pagtaas ng kaso sa iba’t ibang habagi ng bansa, nationally bumagal ang case decline natin nitong mga nakaraang linggo,” she said.

(And because of the slight increase of cases in some parts of the country, our case decline this past week also declined nationally.)

She said cases averaged 180 per day, lower by 7% compared to last week.

Meanwhile, the country remains at low-risk case classification since mid-May as all regions except Region X and the Bangsamoro Region detected an increase in cases.

Vergeire said 15 out of 17 regions are at low-risk case classification as they reported a positive 2-week growth rate while NCR, CAR, Region IX, Region VI, and Region VII reported a positive 1-week growth rate.

“Gayon pa man, as mentioned, kasalukuyan pa ring mababa ang COVID-19 cases nationally at sa lahat ng ating mga rehiyon with less than 1 case per 100,000 population and average daily attack rate,” she said.

(As mentioned, our COVID-19 cases remain low nationally and in our regions with less than 1 case per 100,000 population and average daily attack rate.)

Further, the Health undersecretary said hospitals remain at low risk nationally.

Critical and severe cases are also at less than 1.5% of total hospital admissions. — RSJ, GMA News