The Department of Education (DepEd) is coordinating with the Department of Health (DOH) to prevent possible outbreak of Omicron XBB subvariant and XBC variant of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in schools.

"Of course the coordination continued because in the opening of school classes, it’s an inter-agency. The Department of Education is the head agency when it comes to basic education, we do not stop our coordination with different government agencies like the DOH, especially for health concerns," Michael Poa, DepEd spokesman said during the ''Laging Handa'' public briefing on Wednesday.

This was mentioned by Poa after the DOH announced that 81 cases of XBB and 193 cases of XBC were detected in the latest genome sequencing results .

Poa said the Department of Education has not yet issued new directives that may affect the implementation of full face-to-face classes next month.

"We do not yet receive any advice on any change. In fact we just issued DO 44 last Monday. So, we in the Department of Education of course we will always take our cue from the advice given by the DOH when it comes to health guidelines or any health concerns," he said.

Department Order No. 44 allows private schools to continue with blended learning or distance learning starting November 2.

Public schools will hold face-to-face classes for five days a week starting November 2. Robina Asido/DMS