Philippines detects 14 cases of Omicron subvariant BQ.1
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health confirmed Friday the detection of BQ.1, a sublineage of the highly transmissible Omicron BA.5 subvariant.
Health authorities have detected 14 cases of BQ.1, according to the COVID-19 biosurveillance report from October 28 to November 18.
Thirteen of the local cases were from the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos region, Calabarzon, Central Visayas and Metro Manila.
Vergeire said BQ.1 is “more transmissible and highly-immune evasive” than other Omicron subvariants.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control classifies BQ.1 as a variant of interest.
“It is likely that these additional mutations have conferred an immune escape advantage over other circulating Omicron sublineages, and therefore a higher reinfection risk is a possibility that needs further investigation,” the World Health Organization said in a statement last month.
The DOH reported 8,004 additional COVID-19 infections from November 14 to 20. The number of cases averaged 1,143 in the past week, which was 12% lower than the number of infections logged from November 7 to 13.
The Philippines has registered more than 4.02 million cases, with 64,504 deaths, since the pandemic started. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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