Brazil confirms the first case of the omicron XE subvariant | Health | Magazine

Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the covid pandemic in the world, confirmed on Thursday the first infection with the new subvariant of the virus. ómicron, known as ómicron XE and originally identified in the UK in mid-January, official sources reported.

According to the Ministry of Health, the new variant, which is a combination of the original omicron and the sub-variant omicron BA.2, It was identified the day before in a genetic examination of a patient’s sample carried out by the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo and confirmed by the health authorities this Thursday.

“The portfolio maintains constant monitoring of the epidemiological scenario of covid-19 and reinforces the importance of the complete vaccination schedule to guarantee maximum protection against the virus and prevent the advance of new variants in the country,” the Ministry said in a statement. release.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the recombinant XE was detected for the first time on January 19 in the United Kingdom, which already accumulates more than 700 cases of the new subvariant, and early tests showed it might be more transmissible.

With about 212 million inhabitants, Brazil is the second country in the world with the highest number of deaths from covid-19with 660,973 fatalities, and the third with the most infected, which already exceeds 30 million, although the rate of contagion has been losing strength for several weeks.

Only on this Thursday, Brazil registered 250 new deaths and 26,502 new cases of the disease, figures well below the record of 4,249 deaths and 298,408 daily infections registered, respectively, in April 2021 and February 2022.

The expressive slowdown of the pandemic in the country is attributed to the success of the immunization campaignwhich has allowed more than 75% of the Brazilian population to complete the vaccination cycle. (I)

–