13 cases of Omicron variant identified in Portugal
INSA reveals that 13 cases of the new variant have been identified in Portugal among Belenenses SAD football players and staff.
The Omicron variant has already reached Portugal. According to the National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), 13 cases have been identified in the country among Belenenses SAD football players.
“The National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), through its Department of Infectious Diseases, analysed, on November 28, a batch of 13 positive samples associated with cases of infection of players of Belenenses SAD, given that one of the positive cases will have had a recent trip to South Africa,” INSA reveals in a statement sent to the press. “The preliminary tests carried out at INSA strongly suggest that all 13 cases associated with Belenenses SAD players are related to the Ómicron variant of concern,” adds the same statement.
The director-general of health clarified that “the 13 confirmed cases of Omicron are not exclusively in players of Belenenses SAD, because there are also cases in staff”. Speaking to TSF, Graça Freitas clarified that these people will be subjected to a very rigorous testing plan, intending to break the chains of transmission.
To break the chains of transmission, the health authorities have placed in prophylactic isolation the contacts of the cases of infection associated with this outbreak, regardless of vaccination status and level of exposure. “These contacts remain isolated and will undergo regular testing, as early as possible, on the fifth and tenth day,” INSA states.
