AN infectious disease expert said on Thursday that the recently discovered XBF Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the Philippines will not cause severe symptoms despite its transmissibility and ability to evade the immune system.

'Both XBF and XBB.1.5 displayed mutations that can give them survival advantage, however, there is no evidence yet that it could cause severe disease.... At this time, the danger is quite low because we have a high vaccination rate,' Dr. Edsel Maurice Salvana of the University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital said in a television interview.