Basilan logs first Omicron case

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The province of Basilan has logged its first Omicron case, the most infectious variant of COVID, health officials said yesterday.

The case was based on the results of genome sequencing released last week, indicating the patient contracted Omicron, according to Isabela City health chief Mohrein Ismael.

The patient was a 57-year-old female resident of Isabela, who traveled to Zamboanga City in the first week of January.

The woman, who is reportedly living alone in her house, had recovered from the virus even before the results of the genome sequencing came out.

Isabela City remains under Alert Level 3. The city government is tightening its control border to restrict the movement of unvaccinated people.

As of Sunday, Isabela had at least 36 active cases.

Basilan recorded a total of 98 cases.

As this developed, health officials in Zamboanga peninsula said there was no confirmed Omicron case in the region.