(Eagle News) — The Philippines has detected a local transmission of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said three new cases were detected in the Western Visayas region, bringing the total number of the subvariant’s cases in the country to 17.
She said of the three new cases, one was a returning overseas Filipino from the United States who was fully vaccinated.
The remaining two are local cases detected in Iloilo City, of which one was fully vaccinated.
The vaccination of the other local case, Vergeire said, is still being verified.
According to Vergeire, the 39 close contacts of the two new cases in Metro Manila are under quarantine.
Apart from the three additional BA.2.12.1 subvariant cases, Vergeire said four cases of the Omicron variant, one case of the Delta variant, and two cases with no lineages were also detected in the latest genome sequencing variant.
Of the 17 total BA.2.12.1 cases, the DOH said two are in the National Capital Region and 12 are in Puerto Princesa City.
