SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil has recorded its first confirmed case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa, a fresh warning sign for a country already plagued by the world’s worst daily death toll and scurrying to make room for funerals.
Scientists warned on Wednesday that another new variant could appear in the interior city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil.
The Federal University of Minas Gerais said in a statement that two samples taken in the city include a previously unseen set of 18 mutations, including some in the same genes adapted by the South African variant, and Brazil’s already common variant, known as P.1.
The detection of additional variants adds to the concern that a brutal COVID-19 wave hitting Brazil could still hold bad records for weeks. The Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported a one-day record of 4195 deaths, followed by another 3,829 deaths on Wednesday.
Sao Paulo, the country’s largest city, said on Wednesday that it would start opening about 600 new tombs a day, well beyond the record of 426 funerals a day on March 30. The city is also preparing plans for a “vertical cemetery”, a crib with 26,000 loading graves that can be built within 90 days once approved.
Some medical experts predict that the outbreak in the largest country in South America could overtake the United States to become the deadliest world.
The woman in the state of Sao Paulo, who has now been confirmed infected with the South African virus variant, was first identified by the Butantan Biomedical Institute as a possible case of a new local variant. Further analysis confirms this as the first known local case of the variant being widely distributed in South Africa and elsewhere.
Scientists fear a showdown between the South African variant and the Brazilian P.1 variant, both of which are more contagious and possibly more deadly than the original version of the coronavirus, which exacerbates the COVID-19 surge.
“It could be a giant duel,” said Maria Carolina Sabbaga, one of Butantan’s co-ordinators for studying new variants. ‘I think P.1 has already taken over. I’m not sure if the South African will overtake P.1, let’s see. ”
The South African variant in studies appears to reduce the protection against current vaccines.
José Patané, a Butantan researcher, said the variant probably arrived in Brazil after traveling through Europe by the end of 2020.
The first local diagnosis, a woman in her thirties in the city of Sorocaba, did not travel abroad or come in contact with anyone who did so, indicating the transfer of the local community.
SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF VACCINES
A possible increase in the South African variant could further complicate the slow explosion of Brazil.
The COVID-19 vaccination program in Brazil is based on the vaccines of AstraZeneca Plc and China, Sinovac Biotech Ltd, which according to preliminary studies are effective against the Brazilian variant.
Research released on Wednesday showed that the Sinovac shot was 50% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in a study among nearly 68,000 health workers in Manaus, where the P.1 strain first emerged . The results support preliminary findings from separate research that Reuters reported last month.
Immunizations began to increase slowly in Brazil after the government dragged its feet last year in obtaining vaccines while other countries rushed to secure supplies.
President Jair Bolsonaro shifted his tone regarding vaccines and put forward the shots he had until recently disregarded. But the far-right former army captain is still opposed to social distancing and masking requirements that health experts consider essential to curb virus transmission.
Under pressure from business leaders desperate to vaccinate their staff members and reopen their operations, the House of Representatives has passed a controversial bill to allow vaccines in the private sector. After the Second Chamber voted on Wednesday on the amendments, the bill will now be considered after the Senate.
The proposal enables businesses to obtain vaccines to vaccinate their employees, as long as they donate the same number of shots to the public health system. Under current rules, businesses can only do so once the country has fully vaccinated the risk groups set out in a national vaccination plan.
Reporting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo and Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro; Written by Jake Spring Editing by Brad Haynes, Bill Berkrot and Lisa Shumaker