The country is experiencing ''localized community transmission'' of the Omicron XBB subvariant and XBC variant cases of COVID-19 in three regions, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

In an online media forum, Epidemiology Bureau Officer-in-Charge Alethea de Guzman said these were found in Western Visayas for the XBB subvariant, and Davao Region and Soccsksargen for the XBC variant.

"We are seeing data that supports the presence of localized community transmission," said de Guzman.

"We, however, cannot say yet that this community transmission is happening nationwide or is wide scale," she added.

Western Visayas had 60 cases of XBB subvariant during the latest genome sequencing results while Soccsksargen, 38 cases.

Davao Region had 27 cases of XBC variant in the last sequencing run.

"Definitely, there is local transmission because all are local cases. It means they are not linked to those who travelled outside of the Philippines or have exposure from someone who travelled outside the country. They got the infection locally," said de Guzman.

She said that responses against XBB and XBC from the national to the local level be enhanced.

The DOH reported the first cases of the XBB subvariant and the XBC variant last Tuesday. DMS