The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported three more fatalities among the Omicron variant COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, bringing the total to five.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a message to reporters, said all five are individuals with comorbidities.
“Three are seniors and all have comorbidities. One partially vaccinated, one unvaccinated, and the remaining three are still for verification,” Vergeire said.
This developed as the World Health Organization said Tuesday the risk level related to the Omicron variant remains very high, with the numbers of new Covid-19 cases hitting another record high last week.
“Over 21 million new cases were reported, representing the highest number of weekly cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic,” the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological coronavirus update.
The United Nations health agency said the number of new infections increased by five percent in the week to Sunday—compared to the 20 percent rise registered the week before.
“A slower increase in case incidence was observed at the global level,” the WHO said.
The DOH previously stressed that senior citizens, those with comorbidities, and unvaccinated individuals remain at risk against Omicron, a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
“While Omicron mostly presents with asymptomatic and mild disease, our data shows that those most at risk for fatalities are still the elderly and those with comorbidities and unvaccinated,” the DOH previously said.
There is not much difference between the Omicron variant and its “stealth” subvariants, the DOH said on Wednesday as it announced another death following infection of the highly transmissible lineage.
Omicron is now predominant in Metro Manila and other regions, Vergeire had said.
The Philippines has detected both omicron’s sub lineages, BA.1 and BA.2, or the “stealth omicron,” she said.
“Based on current observations all over the world, we are observing there is not much difference,” she told ANC’s Headstart.
According to Dr. Rontgene Solante, head of adult infectious diseases at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, the difference between the two only lies on the number of mutations.
The BA.1 has more than 60 mutations while the BA.2 has around 85 mutations, Solante said.
“That’s why in some of these articles before it was called stealth omicron because it was not readily detected with the test. You need sequencing in order for you to identify specific mutations,” he said.
The first two deaths among confirmed Omicron cases in the country were unvaccinated senior citizens with pre-existing medical conditions.
The DOH said that upon verification, one of the first two fatalities was partially vaccinated.
The Philippines has so far recorded a total of 535 Omicron cases.
Meanwhile, the WHO said nearly 50,000 new deaths were also reported across the world—a similar figure to the week before.
The report said Omicron continued to increase its dominance globally over the other variants of concern.
“The current global epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 is characterized by the dominance of the Omicron variant on a global scale, continued decline in the prevalence of the Delta variant, and very low-level circulation of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma variants,” the WHO said.
“Countries that experienced a rapid rise in Omicron cases in November and December 2021 have been or are beginning to see declines in cases.
However, “based on the currently available evidence, the overall risk related to the Omicron variant remains very high”.
The WHO said that of samples collected in the last 30 days that have been sequenced and uploaded to the GISAID global science initiative, Omicron accounted for 89.1 percent.
Delta—previously the world’s dominant variant—now makes up 10.7 percent.
“For the behavior of the virus, if it’s more severe than omicron I don’t think it will cause severe (disease),” Solante said.
The Omicron variant should not be dismissed even if it seems to infect patients with mild symptoms, Vergeire said.
“We cannot put some lighter weight para sa omicron because it has lighter symptoms because it can be severe,” she said.
The public is urged to get vaccinated and boosted to avoid more transmission that can lead to more mutations of coronavirus, according to Solante.
Vergeire, meantime, told those seeking a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to “be patient” as there is not enough data that calls for it. AFP”I advise people, let’s wait, let’s be patient, we’ll get there.
Science is evolving. What I can tell you is the national government already has this allotted budget for additional vaccines if and when a
fourth dose is allowed,” she said. With reports from AFP