December 01, (THEWILL) – Brazil became the first Latin American country to report cases of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.
According to the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency, the country’s first two cases involved a couple, a 41-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman, both of whom tested positive for the Omicron variant.
The man arrived in Sao Paulo from South Africa with a negative test for COVID-19 on November 23 and his wife had not travelled, Brazilian health regulator, Anvisa, said.
But before a planned return trip, the couple tested positive and the samples were sent for further analysis which identified the Omicron variant.
A second test on the samples confirmed the variant, the health authorities said.
The two Brazilians who tested positive for the variant are missionaries, Health Secretary Jean Gorinchteyn, said, adding that there was no documentation to suggest they had been vaccinated.
Following the Omicron confirmation, the Brazilian government said it would review a planned easing of rules around the use of masks.
Latin America has suffered heavily from the coronavirus pandemic, with Brazil alone reporting more than 22 million cases and nearly 615,000 related deaths.
Omicron was first identified officially in South Africa last week, but data now shows it was circulating before then and has since been detected in more than a dozen countries.
Scientists around the globe are rushing to determine if the new variant, which has significant mutations compared to previous strains, is more infectious, deadly or able to evade vaccines. That work is expected to take weeks.
In the meantime, countries around the world have imposed travel restrictions, mainly on flights coming from southern Africa despite warnings from the WHO that blanket travel bans would not stop the new variant’s spread.
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