THE Department of Health (DOH) has detected 147 new cases of highly contagious subvariants of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) Omicron variant, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Friday, August 26, 2022.Vergeire said there were 139 newly detected cases of BA.5, six BA.4 and one BA.2.12.1.Of the new BA.5 cases, 45 were in Davao Region, 37 in Calabarzon and 17 in Soccsksargen.The BA.4 cases were from Bicol, Soccsksargen and Davao Region and the BA.2.12.1 cases were from Ilocos.The DOH also tagged one case as “other sublineages.”Based on the DOH Covid-19 tracker, the country currently has 31,037 active Covid-19 cases.The Philippines has a total Covid-19 caseload of 3,867,071 with 61,619 deaths.The health department earlier attributed the prevailing surge in cases in the country to the increased mobility of the people due to eased restrictions as well as to the highly transmissible subvariant of Omicron. (SunStar Philippines)