translated from Spanish: Brazil’s most populous state identifies 19 variants of covid in circulation

The Butantan Institute, one of Brazil’s most prestigious medical research institutions, identified the circulation of 19 variants of the coronavirus in the state of Sao Paulo, the most populous and pandemic-hit state in the country. According to the first edition of the Epidemiological Bulletin of the sars-CoV-2 variant alert network, launched on Wednesday, the strain with the greatest presence in the state, which has about 42 million inhabitants, is P.1, native to Manaus and also known as gamma variant, with a prevalence of 89.9%. For the result, the researchers performed genomic sequencing of part of the tests performed by public and private laboratories throughout the state and that were compiled between January and May 29.” So far, 19 circulating variants have already been identified in the state of São Paulo” after “sequencing 4,812 (0.58%) complete genomes of 834,114 (39.2%) positive cases,” reported the Institute, linked to the São Paulo Governor’s Office. Behind P.1, the other strain classified by health authorities as “of concern” with the highest prevalence in the state is Alpha or B.1.1.7, first identified in the UK and whose incidence was 4.2%. The bulletin, which will be released weekly, has not detected, for now, the presence in the state of the Indian variant Delta, which is the one that causes the greatest concern worldwide, although the strain has already been identified in the South American country. With the initiative, Butantan hopes to monitor “the absolute and relative frequencies of the SARS-CoV-2 lineages”, monitor “the temporal evolution of the incidence of the different strains” and collect information on “positive tests and diagnoses” referring to each area of the state. The Butantan Institute is responsible for the manufacture in Brazil of the Coronavac vaccine, from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, the most used in Brazil, which is one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus, with more than 490,000 deaths and 17.5 million confirmed cases. He will also be in charge of carrying out phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, with humans, of Butanvac, the first vaccine against covid-19 developed in the South American country.

Original source in Spanish