Sixteen new cases of Omicron XBB.1.16 were detected in Western Visayas, based on the latest biosurveillance report of the Department of Health (DOH) on May 22. The more transmissible XBB.1.16 was the last COVID-19 strain detected in the country. It is classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization. Substrains All 139 COVID-19 samples that were sequenced in the latest batch came from the Philippine Genome Center in Visayas. Of the total, 47 were of the XBB.1.9.1, 33 were of the BA.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1778873/doh-finds-more-new-xbb-cases

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