DOH Confirms Local Transmission Of More Infectious Omicron Subvariant Ba.2.12.1

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) verified local transmission of the highly infectious Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, which is slowly gaining traction in the United States, on Tuesday, May 17.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire confirmed the news. Local government entities, she added, are now bolstering the four-door policy to avoid additional viral transmission.

“There’s local transmission in specific areas in the country,” Vergeire said. She didn’t specify though which areas are these in the country.

Border restrictions are strengthened at Doors 1 and 2. Door 3 entails bolstering the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) strategy, while Door 4 entails ensuring that the country’s healthcare infrastructure is “ready for a future spike.”

“We can clearly prove that there is no relationship to any of the preceding instances, in this example, the imported cases,” says the author.

BA.2.12.1 has both immune escape and enhanced transmissibility, according to experts. Experts say BA.2.12.1 spreads readily and is up to 27 percent more transmissible than BA.2, the most common subvariant of Omicron in the Philippines and the rest of the world.

Currently, there are no studies that suggest that BA.2.12.1 causes more severe disease. It is important to note that this BA.2.12.1 is different from BA.2.12, which was also detected in the Philippines in April. Both are subvariants of Omicron.

As of Tuesday, the Philippines has detected 17 cases of BA.2.12.1. Of the total, 16 are locally acquired while one is a returning overseas Filipino residing in Western Visayas.