MANILA - The number of Covid-19 cases may increase following the local transmission of Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 but it would not affect the hospital utilization rate nationwide, an infectious diseases expert said Thursday. In a televised public briefing, Dr. Rontgene Solante, Vaccine Experts Panel member, said the subvariant would not affect the hospital utilization rate because it may not cause severe infection to the general population even if it is highly transmissible than the original Omicron variant. "I don't think it will affect... di gaya nung nakita natin sa Delta na nahirapan huminga, mataas ang mortality (unlike what we've seen with the Delta variant, there was difficulty in breathing, the mortality was high)," Solante said. "This [increase in cases] will occur especially in regions with low vaccination rate, siguro mas mahigitan pa natin ang 500 [average daily cases] na nakikita natin (we might get more than 500 average daily cases we've seen) before and that's what's were going to monitor," he added. Citing that the vulnerable population is mostly likely to get severe disease, Solante said health experts are monitoring and encouraging them to receive booster shots or to be vaccinated with the primary series of Covid-19 vaccines. As of May 18, Department of Health data show 103 new cases, bringing the total tally to 3,688,100. Meanwhile, a total of 68,838,393 individuals are now fully vaccinated and 13,732,500 have received their booster shots. (PNA) }