The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported the death of five persons due to the Covid-19 Omicron variant.
“As per verification, we have five recorded deaths,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
Of the reported deaths, three are seniors and all have comorbidities.
“One [was] partially vaccinated, one unvaccinated, and the remaining three are still for verification,” Vergeire added.
On Tuesday, the DOH confirmed that Omicron sublineage BA.1 and BA.2, detected in at least 49 countries and 17 US states, were found in the country.
Vergeire said that BA.1 and BA.2 were detected upon “further analysis” of the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center.
According to Vergeire, BA.1 was detected in only eight regions and is predominant in Region 5 and among returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs).
Meanwhile, BA.2 (“stealth” Omicron) is predominant in local cases in most regions.
“No significant difference in clinical presentation between BA.1 and BA.2, however. Available data is limited,” Vergeire explained.
Although BA.1 is the globally prevalent Omicron sublineage, Vergeire said, there is a recent increase in the detection of BA.2 sequences.