The Municipal Health Department of São Paulo confirmed today (7) the first case of BA.2, a subline of the Ômicron variant, which is considered even more transmissible than this one and has become dominant in several countries, such as Denmark and India. So far, there are no indications that BA.2 is more severe than the other variants.
The BA.2 subline was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 7 and has about 40 mutations in relation to the Omicron BA.1 variant.
According to the secretary, the patient is a 22-year-old man from the municipality of Santo André, who was treated at a health unit in the capital. The patient was vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine against covid-19, but is not yet able to receive the booster dose. He said he has mild symptoms and was self-isolating as soon as symptoms started. None of the man’s relatives became ill, and he reported not having traveled.
So far, the genomic monitoring carried out by the city hall based on samples has shown that 100% of the positive cases in the city of São Paulo are related to the Ômicron variant.
