Senior citizen with no travel history PH’s first XBF case

The agency’s Covid-19 biosurveillance report issued Wednesday showed the first XBF case and two new cases of XBB.1.5 which raised the overall tally to three. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA – The country’s first case of Omicron subvariant XBF is a Filipino senior citizen with no known history of travel, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.

“The local sample was detected at a time when the variant was not yet classified as a VUM [variant of concern – subvariant under monitoring],” the DOH said in a Viber message to reporters.

The agency’s Covid-19 biosurveillance report issued Wednesday showed the first XBF case and two new cases of XBB.1.5 which raised the overall tally to three.

It noted that XBF sample was collected in December 2022 and was sequenced on Jan. 28, 2023.

“The individual presented mild symptoms, and has already been tagged as recovered,” it said.

XBF is a recombinant sublineage of Omicron BA.5 and BA2.75 which has been associated with recent case increases in Australia and Sweden.

Currently, XBF is classified as an Omicron subvariant under monitoring by the World Health Organization.

Global experts are still characterizing the variant in terms of transmissibility, immune evasion and ability to cause more severe disease.

There were 69 samples sequenced by the University of the Philippines – Philippine Genome Center Main and Mindanao from Feb. 7 to 9.

Out of the total samples, 26 or 37.68 percent were classified as XBB (including two cases classified as XBB.1.5); 10 or 14.49 percent as BA.2.3.20; three or 4.35 percent as BA.5 (including one case classified as BQ.1); two or 2.90 percent as BA.2.75; one case or 1.45 percent as XBC; and 20 or 28.99 percent as other Omicron sublineages.

Of the 26 XBB cases, one case was classified as a Returning Overseas Filipino (ROF) and the rest were local cases from Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, and the National Capital Region (including two cases classified as XBB.1.5).

All additional BA.2.3.20 cases were local cases from Regions Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao Region, Cordillera Administrative Region and the NCR.

Two out of the three reported BA.5 cases were ROFs and one was a local case from Ilocos Region (including one case classified as BQ.1).

The two recently detected BA.2.75 cases were classified as ROFs while the XBC case was a local case from the Davao Region.

“Variants are expected to emerge and what’s important is our cases have remained manageable through vaccination and boosters,” the DOH said.

“Let’s continue to assess our own risk and employ our layers of protection and through vaccination and boosters.”