RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa said on Tuesday that laboratory analysis had found two Brazilian cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the first reported cases in Latin America.
Anvisa said a traveler arriving in Sao Paulo from South Africa and his wife had both apparently contracted the variant.
The traveler landed at Guarulhos international airport on Nov. 23 with a negative test for COVID-19. But before a planned return trip, the couple tested positive and the samples were sent for further analysis, which identified the Omicron variant.
The samples will be sent for a second confirmatory analysis, the regulator said.
(Reporting by Pedro FonsecaWriting by Stephen EisenhammerEditing by Brad Haynes)
