The Department of Health (DOH) said that local transmission of the Covid-19 Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 is “highly likely” after three more cases were detected in the country with “no linkages to international cases or no known history of exposure.”
There are now four cases of XBB.1.16 or Arcturus in the country based on the latest biosurveillance report of the DOH from April 26 to May 6.
The three additional cases of Arcturus were from Region 6.
Earlier, the DOH said that the first case of XBB.1.16 was detected in Iloilo Province and was asymptomatic.
The case has already recovered.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), XBB.1.16 is a descendent lineage of XBB, a recombinant of two BA.2 descendent lineages.
XBB.1.16 was first reported on January 9, 2023, and designated a variant under monitoring (VUM) on 22 March 2023.
On April 17, 2023, XBB.1.16 was designated a variant of interest (VOI). XBB.1.16 has a similar genetic profile as the VOI XBB.1.5, with the additional E180V and K478R amino acid mutations in the spike protein compared to their parent XBB.1.