First two cases of new Omicron sub-variant in Catalona confirmed
Health authorities report new strain could be more transmissible but they "lack evidence on severity"
Catalonia’s health authorities have confirmed the first two cases of the new Omicron sub-variant in the territory, as Catalan News Agency (ACN) reported on Wednesday afternoon.
Officials stated in the morning that they were awaiting a complete virus genome sequencing regarding two possible cases of Omicron BA.2.
Experts informed that the new strain has more mutations than the initial Omicron and could be more transmissible but they "lack evidence on severity," Carmen Cabezas public health secretary said.
Cabezas also explained that they do not know if vaccines are less effective to the new coronavirus variant.
Catalonia daily figures
As of January 25, 2022, official figures, released daily on this website, state there have been 2,072,074 confirmed Covid-19 cases (PCR tests and others including antibody tests).
As of January 25, 2022, 6,449,216 residents have been given the first dose of the vaccine, 81.5% of the total population. Out of those, 5,639,019 have also been administered a second dose (71.3% of the total population). 6,171,733 residents are considered to be fully immunized (77.6%).