Brazil detects first two cases of UK strain of coronavirus

Brazil has identified its first two cases of patients infected with the British strain of covid-19, which appears to be 70% more contagious than the other variants, thanks to tests carried out by a private laboratory in São Paulo.

As reported by EFE, diagnostic laboratory Dasa reported on Thursday that it detected that two people who had contracted coronavirus, and who underwent tests in their units in the city of São Paulo, were infected with the same variety of Sars -CoV-2 which arose in the UK.

Dasa said it had already communicated the results of its examinations to the Secretariat of Health Surveillance and to the Adolfo Lutz Institute, one of the Brazilian institutions of reference in studies on the coronavirus.

The Adolfo Lutz Institute has confirmed that it is investigating the two cases and has started testing to establish the genetic sequence of the strains and confirm if it is the one that originally appeared in the UK.

The so-called British variant, dubbed B.1.1.7, has already been registered in at least 17 countries and is characterized by a mutation that affects the way the virus attaches to human cells, making it much more contagious.

Although it has raised alarm bells in countries like the UK because of its high contagion capacity, there is no indication so far that this strain is causing more severe cases of the disease, that it is increasing. virus death rate or whether it is vaccine resistant. already existing.

The private lab, Brazil’s leading diagnostic medicine laboratory, reported that the samples in which it detected the British strain were collected in mid-December, precisely when the UK released the first scientific information on the variant. .