The Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday the fourth COVID-19 Omicron subvariant has been detected in two persons in Western Visayas.

This is subvariant BA. 2.75, more known as Centaurus, which is more transmissible and has immune evasion. It was first detected in India.

In a press conference in Manila, DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said they were able to detect the two cases in the last genome sequencing.

Vergeire said both persons are tagged as recovered from COVID-19.

She said one individual is partially vaccinated, while the other individual is unvaccinated.

Vergeire said over 1,000 additional cases were detected in the last genome sequencing.

These include 1,015 BA.5 cases, 26 BA.4 cases, and 18 BA.2.12.1 cases. DMS