PHL’s 1st XBB.1.16 case was asymptomatic, already recovered
THE PHILIPPINES’ first infection of the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 was an asymptomatic case and has since recovered, the Health department said on Wednesday.
“The detected XBB.1.16 case in Iloilo Province was asymptomatic and has already recovered,” the Department of Health (DoH) said in a statement.
The agency reported the country’s first XBB.116 case in its biosurveillance report on Tuesday.
Also called Arcturus, the subvariant comes from XBB, a recombinant of two BA.2 descendent lineages.
XBB.1.16 has the ability to evade immunity and is found to be more transmissible, the DoH said.
“Based on the latest risk assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO) last April 17, 2023, no changes in severity have been reported in countries where XBB.1.16. are reported to be circulating,” it said.
“There may have been slight increases in bed occupancy in India and Indonesia, but levels are still much lower compared to the effects of the previous variants,” it added.
“Overall, risk assessment is said to be low.”
As of April 17, there have been 3,648 sequences of Omicron XBB.1.16 reported from 33 countries, the WHO said on April 17.
About 63% or 2,314 of the infections came from India. The other countries with at least 50 cases at the time included the United States, (10.9% or 396), Singapore (6.9% or 250), Australia (3.9% or 143), Canada (2.6% or 94), Brunei (2.4% or 89), Japan (2% or 73) and the United Kingdom (2.1% or 75).
“Globally, there has been a weekly rise in the prevalence of XBB.1.16,” the WHO said, noting that from March 27 to April 2, the global prevalence of XBB.1.16 was 4.15%, an increase from 4 weeks earlier, when the global prevalence was 0.52%.
Meanwhile, Alethea de Guzman of the DoH’s epidemiology bureau said COVID-19 infections in the country have been increasing recently.
“COVID-19 cases in the country increased by 18% this week but our hospitalization rate remains low,” she told OneNews Channel.
The Health official said the increase happens gradually. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
