THE Department of Health (DOH) today recorded 618 new confirmed COVID-19 cases with the Omicron variant.
This is based on the latest whole genome sequencing undertaken by the DOH, UP Philippine Genome Center, and the UP National InstituteS of Health out of 677 samples submitted.
The DOH reported that they were able to identify the original lineage of Omicron, the B.1.1.529, and its sub-lineage, the BA.1 and BA.2.
Out of the 618 new cases with Omicron, 497 are local cases while 121 are from Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs).
Majority of the local cases are in the National Capital Region (NCR) with 238, followed by Calabarzon with 71 cases, Ilocos Region and Western Visayas with 30 cases each, Eastern Visayas with 28, and Central Luzon with 27 cases.
In Central Visayas, there were 20 cases of Omicron, 19 in Cagayan Valley, 13 in the Cordillera Region, and 10 cases in the Davao Region.
A total of 13 cases are still recovering, two were dead, including the five fatalities reported yesterday, 560 have already fully recovered while the condition of 43 cases are still being verified.
Overall, there are now 1,153 confirmed cases with the Omicron variant in the country.