![]() ![]() Healthcare workers (HCW) have been the frontline response to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been significantly affected by the disease, mainly during the first epidemic wave. This demonstrates the importance of HCW as a sentinel group for monitoring disease trends in the general population. Moreover, from November 2021 to February 2022, similar variant profiles between HCW and the general population were observed, and a quicker shift from Delta to Omicron in HCW than in the general population. ![]() After May 2021, two distinct variant groups (Delta and Omicron) were observed, equally distributed among the five Santa Catarina mesoregions. There was a significant increase in both numbers between December 2021 and February 2022, peaking in mid-January 2022, when the Omicron variant dominated. The number of cases was relatively low in May 2021, but the number of deaths was higher with the Gamma variant. A total of 5291 sequenced genomes demonstrated the circulation of 55 strains and four variants of concern (Alpha, Delta, Gamma and Omicron-sublineages BA.1 and BA.2). We characterized the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants from May 2021 to April 2022 in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, and evaluated the similarity between variants present in the population and healthcare workers (HCW). SARS-CoV-2 genome surveillance is important for monitoring risk groups and health workers as well as data on new cases and mortality rate due to COVID-19. ![]()
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