ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) has confirmed the local transmission of “Arcturus” or the XBB.1.16 Omicron subvariant of coronavirus causing COVID-19.
The country has so far logged four confirmed cases – all in Western Visayas. However, their origins remain undetermined.
DOH added that the cases have no links to international cases or no known history of exposure.
“As informed yesterday by (DOH) OIC Secretary Maria Rosario Clarissa Singh-Vergeire, may ara kita local transmission. Indi ma-point out kon diin naghalin or nagsugod ang aton Arcturus cases,” said Dr. Jane Juanico, DOH-6 medical officer IV, yesterday.
The first case of Arcturus in the country was recorded in Iloilo province last month, and has already recovered.
Recent genome sequencing disclosed that there were additional three Arcturus cases in the region – one each from Iloilo province, Guimaras and Bacolod City.
Juanico said these three additional cases were all vaccinated and asymptomatic, based on DOH-6’s investigation. They were also tagged as recovered.
The Arcturus subvariant has the ability to evade immunity and is said to be more transmissible, according to the DOH.
XBB.1.16 is spreading around the world and has been detected in 33 countries.
DOH said the current available evidence for XBB.1.16 “does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the original Omicron variant.”
“Researchers are currently characterizing the variant in terms of transmissibility, immune evasion, and ability to cause more severe disease,” the health department added.
The World Health Organization earlier flagged it as a new variant of interest because of the increasing number of cases.
Meanwhile, despite the observed increasing cases of COVID-19, Juanico noted the severity in terms of the utilization of healthcare facilities is still low.
“Meaning nga even if may mga cases kita as we have seen sa mga na-genome sequence naton nga mga kaso, ini tanan sila asymptomatic. That is why ang aton healthcare utilization rate, ICU (intensive care unit) utilization, they are still at low risk,” said Juanico.
She added that the local government units and public and private healthcare facilities are on top of the situation and ready to respond in case there is a surge in cases.
Juanico emphasized that the health department continues to remind the public to never let their guard down and continue protecting themselves by still following the minimum health standards like wearing of facemask.
“Aton gina-emphasize gid nga despite sang aton pagiging lenient na sang preventive measures, we still encourage nga ang mga pumoluyo padayon nga magprotekar sang ila mga kaugaligon,” she added.
The medical officer also stressed the importance of having COVID-19 primary and booster shots as protection against the viral disease.
“Kita diri sa Department of Health, we continue to encourage the public the benefits of our vaccination. Ang aton nga bakuna nagabulig gid nga matapna ang pagdamu sang subvariants sang COVID-19, at the same time mapa-untat naton ang transmission if most of our people will have the immunity against the virus,” Juanico stressed./PN
