By NewsDesk  @bactiman63

The new Brazilian variant of COVID-19 is already present in 91 percent of COVID-19 cases analyzed in the state of Amazonas, which is experiencing a dramatic health collapse, according to a study released Friday. 

Image by Paula Paulinha from Pixabay

The research, carried out by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a leading medical research center in Latin America, reveals a rapid spread of the new Amazonian variant that could indicate a greater power of transmissibility.

In December, the one named “P.1” was detected in 51 percent of the samples analyzed in the laboratories and in the first half of January that percentage jumped substantially to 91 percent, which confirms that it has been become the predominant lineage in Amazon.

In this sense, the fact that it shares mutations with the variants originating in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and that it has been found more frequently in genetic studies, suggests that it is “more transmissible”, according to Felipe Naveca , a researcher at the Leônidas Institute. & María Deane, linked to Fiocruz.

The World Health Organization reported this week that cases of this new variant have been detected, in addition to Brazil, in seven other countries: Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, South Korea and Ireland.

Argentina reports 145 confirmed Salmonella cases in Salta province

Peru reports worst dengue epidemic since 2017

Brazil Health Minister: ‘Our vaccination program for COVID-19 will be the largest in the world’

Brazil influenza A(H1N2) variant virus in Paraná: WHO details