Covid-19: they detect a Uruguayan variant

Said report, the author of which is the institute’s bioinformatics Nathalie Rego, determined that the local variant was registered from late November 2020 to April 2021. In turn, experts confirmed that it occurred in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and this predominated until March 2021, when the introduction and release of the Brazilian P.1 variant moved it.

According to the report, since late April last year, there have been no new cases of this variant, which has two relevant mutations located in the Spike protein that could be associated with increased transmissibility.

The research that identified the Uruguayan variant began in April 2021, when scientists analyzed samples taken in the eastern department of Rocha in late 2020 and early this year.

From these studies, they detected that in addition to the circulation of variants entered from southern Brazil (P.1, P.2, among others), there were 11 samples which had two mutations and which would not be entered from the same area. .

Deaths and hospitalizations skyrocketed in the first months of the year, when Uruguay had yet to implement the Covid-19 vaccination.