'The system is ready for these new cases,' says Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire.
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Philippines’ Department of Health reported detecting its first cases of the COVID-19 Omicron subvariant XBB and the XBC variant on Tuesday, October 18.
According to the Singapore Ministry of Health, the country reported a 7,916 seven-day moving average of local cases as of Thursday, October 20. The week-on-week infection ratio was at 1.09. An infection ratio of 1 indicates that the spread of the virus is slowing down. Health experts say those who are updated with their vaccinations and boosters or have been recently infected within the past three months have better protection against new variants and subvariants.In the Philippines, health authorities also do not see a need to tighten restrictions despite the detection of the first XBB cases.
Given XBB’s immune evasiveness as well as Singapore’s experience, a spike or surge in the Philippines is possible. But a surge does not necessarily equate to an increase in hospitalizations as long as enough of the population is fully vaccinated and if a high number of the country’s eligible population are boosted.