A new supervariant of the Covid-19 virus in Brazil is a combination of 18 different mutations, including the so-called Brazilian, British and South African strains.
According to local media reports, scientists in the South American country have confirmed that the new strain, which was first discovered in the city of Belo Horizonte, contains multiple mutations that were already known.
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‘[It] characteristics have in common with the variants that have already spread in Brazil, but it also has new characteristics, ”Renato Santana, a virologist at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, reportedly told the local daily G1.
“It’s like these variants are evolving,” Santana said. The new variant included the same genes that were adapted by the Brazilian Manaus, known as P1, the British and the South African variant.
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Characteristics of more lethal variants
While emphasizing that it is too early to say that the new strain is more contagious or deadly, Santana said that the new strain has the characteristics of the variants that already have a higher risk of death.
Brazil has seen a rapid increase in Covid-19 infections over the past few weeks, and Santana said the rapidly growing number of seriously ill people could be linked to the various mutations currently circulating in Brazil and beyond.
He allegedly said that a relatively slow explosion of the vaccine “accelerates the appearance of new variants, as the continuous spread of the virus makes it possible to be” trained “to detect and bypass antibodies, as the immune system merely “looking out at the original tribe.” Santana apparently said.
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