Brazil identifies first local case of Omicron XBB.1.5
Integrated health network Dasa reported, on Thursday (Jan. 5), having identified the first case of XBB.1.5 subvariant of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in Brazil. The subvariant was found in a blood sample from a patient in the city of Indaiatuba, São Paulo state, in November last year.
The case has been reported to the Health Surveillance Center of the state of São Paulo, and the sample is at Gisaid, the world repository of the genetic sequencing of the vírus, Dasa informed.
According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, the subvariant XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible version of COVID-19 identified in the world so far.
Van Kerkhove explained the subvariant has already been identified in 29 countries and may be circulating in other locations without being detected. "We expect more waves of infection around the world, but that will not necessarily lead to more waves of death because our countermeasures are still working," she said.
Brazilian experts have shown concern about the identification of this subvariant in the country. Besides being more transmissible, it also seems to partially escape the body's defense system, although so far there is no indication that it causes more serious disease than all Omicron subvariants already known. They recommend that the population continue to wear protective masks and complete the full vaccination cycle against COVID -19, which mainly protects against severe forms of the disease.
