Scientists study new variant of COVID-19 originating in Peru or Chile

Peruvian scientists study a new variant of covid-19 which appears to originate from Peru or Chile and which is probably already “exported” to other countriessays molecular microbiology doctor Pablo Tsukayama.

“According to our analysis, among the samples presented between January and March, this new variant, which since last week was given a name C.37, would correspond to nearly 40% of the samples that we processed in Lima”, Tsukayama highlighted in statements posted on the station’s website on Monday RPP news.

The scientist stressed that the information is still “preliminary” and was found as part of the genomic monitoring project applied in his country. and makes it possible to process each month “a sample of a hundred genomes from Lima and Peru”.

“What we see is that in December, more or less, a new variant starts to appear that we had never seen before, which is not British, Brazilian or South African, but drifting something that’s already circulating here, ”he remarked.

Tsukayama said the C.37 variant “is growing in Lima, and then also throughout Peru” and that there is also evidence “that it is located in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States and several other countries in the region”.

“All of this data is preliminary, but we have a variant that originated in Peru or Chile, but which would already export to other parts of the world,” he said.

The expert recalled that “the evidence is very preliminary”Therefore, it is currently not possible to confirm that this variant has “greater transmissibility, nor greater virulence, nor greater mortality”.

“The only thing we know is that it starts to appear at the same time that the second wave starts to rise in Peru. It’s a correlation, ”he added.

Tsukayama announced on Twitter at the end of last week that the announcement of this “new line (variant) of SARS-CoV-2 which appears to be developing rapidly in Peru and Chile” had been posted on the page http://virological.org, “Where virologists around the world discuss their preliminary findings.”

He added that “more data is needed to verify these observations”, but C.37 descends from a line called B.1.1.1 which has circulated around the world since the start of the pandemic and which in Peru has been identified in 10.2% of the 1030 genomes processed in 2020.

“With the available data, we cannot be sure whether C.37 originated in Peru or Chile. They both have similar outbreaks in 2021 and share many daily flights. Another possibility is that it was introduced into Chile and Peru from another country in the region that has not yet detected it.“, He said.

Tsukayama also said that “it is impossible” to predict when the peak of the second wave of the pandemic currently hitting Peru, which adds more than 1.7 million cases and is close to 60,000 deaths, will be reached.

He recalled that a month and a half ago, we considered that this peak had already been reached, because there was a decrease in infections, but then the disease “came back”.

The specialist said that it all depends on the ability of the virus to transmit, but also on the behavior of people, so there is always the possibility “that there is a new rebound or that it starts to go down and then back up.”

“We know this pandemic is behaving unpredictably», He concluded.

With information from EFE

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