THE Department of Health (DOH) has detected 816 more cases of the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said Wednesday, July 20, 2022.Vergeire said 12 of the new BA.5 cases were returning overseas Filipinos, while the others were from all the regions in the country except the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.The agency also detected 42 more cases of BA.4 subvariant in which 10 were from Soccsksargen (Region 12), nine from Davao (Region 11), seven from Western Visayas (Region 6), four each from the National Capital Region and Bicol (Region 5), three from Calabarzon (Region 4-A), and one each from Cordillera and Bangsamoro.The three others were returning overseas Filipinos.Vergeire said 52 new cases of BA.2.12.1 were also detected in Central Luzon, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao, Soccsksargen, Calabarzon, Cordillera, Caraga, and NCR.BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants were reportedly more transmissible than its mother variant, the Omicron, the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).It, however, does not cause severe infection as compared to the Delta variant.Earlier, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos likened the Omicron subvariants to flu.The BA.2.12.1 was blamed for the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the United States over the past months. (SunStar Philippines)