Scientists study new variant of coronavirus originating in Peru or Chile

Peruvian scientists study a new variant of the coronavirus which appears to be native to Peru or Chile and it is likely that is already “exported” to other countries, said molecular microbiology doctor Pablo Tsukayama.

“According to our analysis, among the samples submitted between January and March, this new variant, which since last week received a name C.37, would correspond to almost 40% of the samples that we dealt with in Lima, ”Tsukayama said in statements published Monday on the RPP Noticias radio website.

The scientist pointed out that the information is still “preliminary” and it was found within the framework of the genomic surveillance project which is applied in his country and makes it possible to process each month “a sample of a hundred genomes from Lima and Peru”.

“What we are seeing is that in December, more or less, a new variant begins to appear that we had never seen before, which is not British, Brazilian or South African, but it derives from something that is already circulating around here “, he pointed out.

The origin

Tsukayama said that the C.37 variant “is developing in Lima, then also in all of Peru” and that there is also evidence “that it is 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 be exported to other parts of the world,” he said.

The expert reiterated that “the evidence is very preliminary”, so that currently cannot be confirmed that this variant has “greater transmissibility, neither greater virulence, nor greater mortality”.

“All we know is that starts to appear at the same time as the second wave begins to rise in Peru. It’s a correlation, ”he said.

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 published on the page http: // virological .org, “where virologists around the world discuss their preliminary results”.

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 been circulating around the world since the start of the pandemic and which in Peru was identified in 10.2% of the 1030 genomes processed in 2020.

“With the data available, we cannot be sure whether C.37 originated in Peru or Chile. Both have similar outbreaks in 2021 and share many daily flights. Another possibility is that it has been introduced. in Chile and Peru from another country in the region… it still does not detect it, ”he said.

The second wave

Tsukayama also said that “it is impossible” to predict when the second wave of the pandemic currently hitting Peru will reach its peak, which adds over 1.7 million cases and that’s almost 60,000 deaths.

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

The specialist said that it all depends on the ability of the virus to transmit, but also people’s behavior, there is therefore always the possibility that “there is a new rally or that it starts to fall and then to rise again”.

“We know that this pandemic behaves in an unpredictable way,” he concluded.

Source: EFE

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