New variant of COVID-19 has been identified in Brazil: it could be an evolution of the Manaus strain and is similar to the South African strain

Brazil has detected a new variant of COVID-19 in the city of Sorocaba, in the state of São Paulo, which is similar to the one first identified in South Africa and could be an evolution of that of Manaus, said Dimas Covas, president. Wednesday from the Biomedical Institute of Butantan.

During a press conference at the Palácio dos Bandeirantes, seat of the government of São Paulo, Covas explained that the genetic material of the variant had been studied and that it had similar traits to the South African strain despite the person having no history of travel to that country or of contact. with people who had been there.

“Yesterday we completed the analysis of the genetic material from the laboratory network with Butantan and the university students who are doing this work,” said Covas. And he detailed: “It’s a variant similar to South Africa, although there is no history of travel or contact with travelers from South Africa. It is possible that this is an evolution of our P.1 towards this mutation in South Africa ”.

The P.1 variant of the coronavirus originating in Manaus and the South African variant are more transmissible than the original version of the coronavirus which caused covid-19. The circulation of the P.1 variant has been identified as one of the factors responsible for the worsening of the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil.

“This is a variant that already has somewhat different signatures from the original variant, indicating a probable local origin even from the P.1 variant.“Said the president of Butantan.

And he explained that the case had been reported to the epidemiological surveillance of the municipality of Sorocaba, which is in charge of monitoring the patient, his family and people with whom he has had contact for possible preventive measures, such as isolation.

Covas also said that At the moment there is only one case of this variant in a universe where the P.1 variant already predominates and which continues to monitor samples to identify variants.

On the flip side, March is already by far the worst month in the pandemic in Brazil, with nearly 60,000 dead, and experts predict another tragic month in April, with hospitals overwhelmed and forced to choose who will receive care. .

From March 1 to March 30, 57,606 deaths due to covid were recorded, 75% more than the 32,881 of July 2020, to date the deadliest month. The total of deaths since the first death a year ago stands at 317,646, surpassed only by the United States.

With information from Reuters and AFP

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