Philippines records two cases of Omicron subvariant BN.1

The Philippines recorded two cases of Omicron subvariant BN.1, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Based on the latest genome sequencing from December 19 to 22, the DOH said only two BN.1 cases have been detected in the country, and these cases are reported under Omicron BA.2.75.

The DOH, citing the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), said BN.1, a sublineage of BA.2.75, is a “variant under monitoring” due to its increasing prevalence globally as of December 21.

“The variant was initially flagged by the researchers due to its increasing prevalence and mutations that may lead to enhanced immune evasion. However, currently available evidence for BN.1 does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant,” the DOH said.

“Currently, the subvariant is still reported under BA.2.75 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and will remain classified under Omicron until sufficient evidence arises showing that the virus characteristics are significantly different from Omicron,” it added.

In a separate statement, the DOH said both cases have now been tagged as recovered.

“To date, there are two detected cases of BN.1 in the Philippines. The first BN.1 case, whose sample was collected in October 2022, was a returning overseas Filipino coming from Kuwait. The second BN.1 case was a local case, with the specimen collected last November 2022. Both cases have now been tagged as recovered,” the department said.

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) sequenced 351 samples last December 19 to 22.

Out of the recent 351 samples, 145 were classified as Omicron BA.2.3.20, one case was classified as BA.4, 76 were classified as BA.5, 72 as XBB, eight cases as XBC, and 40 as other Omicron subvariants.

Of the 145 additional BA.2.3.20 cases, one case was a returning overseas Filipino (ROF) while the remaining 144 were local cases from all regions except Region 7, 8, 10, and BARMM, according to the DOH.

The DOH said the additional BA.4 case came from Region 4A, while all eight additional XBC cases came from Region 11.

All additional BA.5 cases were local cases from Regions 1, 3, 4A, 4B, 5, 6, 12, BARMM, CAR, CARAGA, and National Capital Region (NCR).

Of the 72 additional XBB cases, two were ROFs, while the remaining were local cases from Region 4A, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, BARMM, and NCR, the DOH said.

Based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) website, the Omicron subvariants under monitoring as of November 20, 2022 are BA.5, BA.2.75, BA.4.6, XBB, and BA.2.3.20. — DVM/AOL, GMA Integrated News