The integrated health network Dasa informed today (5) that it had identified the first case of the Ômicron XBB.1.5 subvariant in Brazil. The case was identified in a sample from a patient in Indaiatuba, in the interior of São Paulo. The sample would have been collected in November last year.
According to Dasa, the case has already been communicated to the São Paulo State Health Surveillance Center, and the sample is in Gisaid, the world sequencing repository.
According to the chief epidemiologist of the World Health Organization (WHO), Maria Van Kerkhove, the XBB.1.5 subvariant is the most transmissible version of covid-19 identified in the world so far.
The epidemiologist said that the subvariant has already been identified in 29 countries and may be circulating in other places without being detected. “We expect more waves of infection around the world, but this need not translate into more waves of death because our countermeasures continue to work.”
Brazilian specialists have shown concern about the arrival of this subvariant, which, in addition to being more transmissible, also seems to partially escape defenses, although, so far, there is no indication that it causes a more serious disease than what has been known so far from Omicrons. . They recommend that the population continue to use protective masks and complete the vaccination schedule against covid-19, which mainly protects against severe forms of the disease.
THE Brazil Agency sought out the Ministry of Health and the State Department of Health of São Paulo to obtain more information about the identification of this case in Indaiatuba, but, so far, did not receive a response.
