DOH confirms detection of first Omicron subvariant case
MANILA: The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed the detection of the first case arising from the highly contagious coronavirus (COVID-19) Omicron subvariant called BA.2.12 which has caused surges in the US, India and South Africa.
In an advisory, the DOH said the patient was a 52-year-old woman from Finland, who arrived in the Philippines on April 2.
Records showed she went to two universities, first in Metro Manila and the second to the resort city of Baguio in the Northern Luzon highlands to conduct seminars on digital loom weaving.
The DOH said: “The case was not required to undergo routine isolation in a quarantine facility since she was fully vaccinated and arrived asymptomatic (no COVID-19 symptoms).”
Nevertheless, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Thursday said that the Finnish woman had come into close contact with 44 people while aboard a plane and during her stay in the country.
Of the total, she said nine were in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila, five in Baguio City and Benguet province in Northern Luzon and 30 of her co-passengers aboard the plane bound for the Philippines.
From Baguio City, Mayor Benjamin Magalong reported that the woman arrived in the city on
April 7. Shortly ater that, he said the woman started exhibiting symptoms on April 10 and tested positive for the virus on April 11.
Magalong and the DOH assured that all close contacts had been identified, quarantined and tested. “Subsequently, the case has finished her seven-day isolation and has recovered and discharged,” the DOH said.
“The patient returned to her home country on April 21, 2022.” Despite the assurance, however, the DOH appealed to the Filipinos get their COVID booster shots soonest, warning over what it called the “spread factor.”
The country started on Monday its campaign for a second a COVID booster shot whose main targets are individuals with comorbidities (with ailments like cancer, hypertension and diabetes).
“The DOH thus implores the public to get boosted ASAP (as soon as possible) as immunity has been proven to wane over time.”
The World Health organisation (WHO) has not declared BA.2.12 a “variant of interest.”
According to DOH, scientists are still characterising thee Omicron sublineages in terms of transmissibility and if they can cause more severe diseases. “(But) preliminary data,” it said, “have shown that their mutations are associated with higher transmissibility.”