THE Department of Health (DOH) confirmed the local transmission of the Omicron subvariant called BA. 2.12.1.
However, DOH Spokesperson and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire clarified that the recorded case of the Omicron subvariant cannot be called a community transmission.
The latest detected were the three new cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 in the Western Visayas region, including a Returning Overseas Filipino (ROF) from the US who is fully vaccinated and two local cases.
At present, there are 17 cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 in the country — 16 local cases from the National Capital Region (NCR), Puerto Princesa in Palawan and the ROF in the Western Visayas.
Vergeire said the new subvariant may be highly transmissible but this does not necessarily mean a widespread transmission due to the high vaccination rate in the country, where more than 68.6 million or 73.6 percent of the target eligible population have already been vaccinated.
She said that the DOH and the local government units are already moving to respond to the local transmission of the BA.2.12.1 subvariant to avoid a possible surge of cases.