Mônica Bergamo: City of SP detects first case of omicron subvariant

This Monday, the city of São Paulo identified the first case of the BA.2 sublineage of the ômicron variant. The information was confirmed by the Municipal Health Department.

The new version of the omicron was identified in a 22-year-old man who lives in the city of Santo André (SP), in the ABC region of São Paulo, but underwent an examination at a UBS located in the east of the capital, on January 28.

He had already taken two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and had mild symptoms. After confirming the case, an epidemiological surveillance team went to meet him to obtain more information and provide him with guidance.

According to the folder, no family member connected to the patient became ill. He also claimed not to have traveled after receiving the diagnosis.

So far, BA-2 appears to be more transmissible than BA.1 and more capable of infecting vaccinated people, a Danish study has shown.​

The research, which analyzed coronavirus infections in more than 8,500 Danish households between December and January, found that people infected with the BA.2 subvariant were approximately 33% more likely to infect others, compared with those infected with BA.1 .

As viruses mutate into new variants, they sometimes split or branch into sub-lineages.

In Brazil, the first case of the ômicron variant was announced on November 30th. The first death was confirmed on January 6 by the Health Department of the city of Aparecida de Goiânia, in the metropolitan region of Goiás.

The 68-year-old patient was hypertensive and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. According to the folder, he had received three doses of vaccine against Covid-19: two in the primary scheme and one as a booster.

_{with LÍGIA MESQUITA, BIANKA VIEIRA and MANOELLA SMITH}