(Bloomberg) -- Brazil detected two cases of the omicron variant in preliminary testing, the first cases of the new strain confirmed in Latin America.
The variant was spotted in samples from a traveler who had recently arrived from South Africa and his wife, health watchdog Anvisa said in a note on Tuesday. The tests will be repeated for further confirmation, it said, giving no further information about the patients.
Omicron Reaches Nations From U.K. to Japan in Widening Spread
Countries including Brazil tightened travel restrictions over the past few days amid news of the new variant. The strain, first identified in South Africa, has been detected in locations from U.K. to Spain and Canada, mostly from travelers carrying the disease across borders.
Earlier on Tuesday, O Globo newspaper reported a woman recently arrived from the Democratic Republic of the Congo tested positive for Covid-19 and was hospitalized in the state of Minas Gerais.
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