The Brazilian health authority reported two people who arrived infected from South Africa, being the first cases of omicron in Latin America.
Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) revealed that the Albert Einstein laboratory in Sao Paulo identified two people who tested positive for coronavirus and, after reviewing the tests, determined that they are infected with the omicron strain.
Those infected are a couple who arrived at the Sao Paulo-Guarulho International Airport on a flight from South Africa on Tuesday, November 23, and the virus was detected when they were trying to take a flight to return to Africa.
For now, Anvisa has indicated that the tests carried out in the Albert Einstein laboratory will be sent to the Adolfo Lutz Institute to confirm the genetic sequencing of the virus registered in both people.
In turn, it has been known that in Brazil there was another person suspected of having this variant of the coronavirus, but the case was registered days before the World Health Organization recognized the omicron strain as worrisome.