Philippines detects 18 cases of new COVID-19 variant JN.1MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health said Sunday that it has detected 18 cases of JN.1, a form of Omicron classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of interest.”Despite the detection of a new COVID-19 variant, the DOH stressed that “there has been no significant increase in the number or severity of cases overall.”It added that all COVID-19 patients with JN.1 have recovered, with the earliest sample collected on November 16 and the most recent on December 3. “It is another Omicron subvariant with no evidence of increased severity or unusual clinical presentation. Last week, the WHO classified JN.1 as a separate variant of interest from its parent lineage BA.2.86. The DOH reported last week that hospital admissions remained low despite an uptick in COVID-19 infections. Currently, there are around 5,568 active COVID-19 cases.
