They discover a mutation of the Manaus strain in Rio de Janeiro

The carioca state It is the second in Brazil with the most deaths from the coronavirus in the whole country after São Paulo.

“So far it cannot be said that this variant is more contagious or fatal, which is a mutation of P1,” said Claudia Mello, undersecretary for health surveillance at the State Secretariat for Health. from Rio.

New Variant P.1.2 was identified in 5.85% of the 376 samples collected from 57 municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, including the state capital.

The discovery occurred as part of the coronavirus sequencing plan funded by all public and university laboratories in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro’s Health Secretary Alexandre Chieppe said the study can verify the incidence of new strains and anticipate possible epidemiological scenarios.

Meanwhile, Brazil surpassed 15 million coronavirus cases on Thursday since the start of the pandemic, and the Manaus strain has been blamed for the health collapse that has been occurring since February.

The country led by Jair Bolsonaro has accumulated 76,380 new cases of the coronavirus in addition to 416,949 deaths from the pandemic.