2 bagong kaso ng Omicron subvariant BN.1, na-detect – DOH

ni Lolet Abania | December 29, 2022

Nakapagtala ng 2 kaso ng Omicron subvariant BN.1 ang Department of Health (DOH) na na-detect sa bansa.

Ayon sa DOH, ang BN.1, isang sublineage ng BA.2.75, ay kinukonsidera na isang “variant under monitoring” ng European Center for Disease Control.

“The variant was initially flagged by the researchers due to its increasing prevalence and mutations that may lead to enhanced immune evasion,” batay sa nakasaad sa latest biosurveillance report ng DOH na inilabas ngayong Huwebes.

“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,” dagdag pa nito.

Sinabi naman ng DOH na ang Omicron strain ay nai-report pa rin sa ilalim ng BA.2.75 ng World Health Organization (WHO).

Gayundin, anang ahensiya, “It will remain classified under Omicron until sufficient evidence arises showing that the virus characteristics are significantly different from Omicron.”

Samantala, batay sa latest report ng DOH, nakapagtala naman ng 342 karagdagang kaso ng Omicron subvariants.

Mula sa 351 samples, 145 ay classified bilang Omicron BA.2.3.20, 1 kaso ng BA.4, nasa 76 cases ang BA.5, may 72 kaso ng XBB, 8 cases bilang XBC, at 40 na iba pang Omicron subvariants. Ang 9 ay inilarawan naman bilang no lineage assigned, ayon pa sa DOH.

Ang mga naturang samples ay sequenced ng Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) at ng University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center.