Argentina detects 1st case of omicron subvariant BA.5

LONDON. KAZINFORM Health authorities in Argentina on Wednesday confirmed the country’s first case of the highly contagious omicron subvariant BA.5.

The ANLIS/Malbrán Institute detected the presence of the subvariant in a person who had returned from an international trip, Anadolu Agency reports.

According to local daily Infobae, the case was detected after the analysis of samples that were submitted between June 5 and June 11.

First detected by scientists in South Africa this April and related to an increase in COVID-19 cases in the country, BA.4 and BA.5 are the latest omicron coronavirus subvariants. To date, their presence has been confirmed in numerous countries across the globe.​​​​​​​

Argentina, with a population of over 47 million, has registered 9,367,172 coronavirus cases and 129,070 deaths, according to data from the Health Ministry.