Two persons died among 492 Omicron variant cases of COVID-19 that were found among the latest samples submitted for sequencing to the Philippine Genome Center last January 13-14, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

The DOH said the two deaths are the first ones in the country.

It said the two fatalities were more than 60 years old, unvaccinated, and had pre-existing medical conditions.

"The 492 Omicron variant cases are composed of 332 local cases and 160 Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs)," said the DOH.

Among the 332 local cases, majority of their indicated addresses showed they were from the National Capital Region with 227.

DOH said three cases are active, 467 tagged as recovered, while the outcome of 20 cases are being verified.

The confirmed Omicron variant cases in the Philippines are 535.

The Delta variant is still the prominent COVID-19 strain with 8,612. Alpha variant cases are 3,170. DMS