THE Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday assured that the Philippine General Hospital and the Makati Medical Center are not currently overwhelmed by admissions of COVID-19 cases in the country.

The DOH issued the advisory reminding the public to be mindful of the information they share and check them first with official sources.

“MMC has already issued a clarification of its carefully managed operations and availability for COVID-19 cases should there be a spike there is none,” the advisory read.

“PGH has clarified that being a public service hospital in high demand, it is occupied by mostly non-COVID-19 cases, and is simply advising the public to please coordinate admissions first,” it added.

The Philippines on Saturday logged 213 new COVID-19 infections, with 2,436 active cases.

The Philippines recently detected more cases of the more transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 22.

In May, the DOH also reported that the country also detected the Omicron subvariant BA.4. The case has already completed his isolation period and has since recovered.

Based on the DOH’s latest data, the country’s active case count dropped to 2,436 from 2,441 on Friday.

The regions with the most new cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region with 1,075, followed by Calabarzon with 429, Central Luzon with 239, WesternVisayas with 143, and SOCCSKARGEN with 107.

The Health Department reported no new COVID-19 deaths.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,628,435 patients recovered from the viral disease.

The country’s bed occupancy stood at 17%, with 5,191 occupied and 25,368 vacant beds.

In another development, the DOH also said the possibility of local transmission of the Omicron BA.5 subvariant was very high following its detection in two individuals in Region III.

“Once we detect this subvariant dito sa ating komunidad, malaki na po ang ating ginagawang index of suspicion na meron tayong lokal na transmission dahil nakita natin kung paano at ano ang linkage,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

Vergeire said health authorities were tracing if other individuals had acquired the subvariant.

“Kapag nagkakaroon na kasi tayo ng tao na nade-detect natin na ganitong variant dito po sa ating community, the possiblity that the transmission is local, is very high,” she said, stressing that the individuals had no travel history outside of the country.

The individuals developed symptoms on May 15 and immediately underwent home isolation from May 16 until May 30. They are now asymptomatic and recovered.

The DOH said one of the two cases was a female in her late thirties while the other was a male in his early fifties.

The Health Department identified two close contacts, one of whom tested positive for COVID-19. Both were still in isolation.

However, Vergeire clarified this was not yet classified as community transmission of BA.5 in the country.

“So far we could still determine the linkage. What we have right now is the local transmission of the subvariant. But the community transmission, we still need to establish that through evidence,” she said.