Britain’s ‘mystery patient’ infected with the highly contagious Brazilian variant of the coronavirus was finally found after a five-day nationwide hunt.
According to the Financial Times, two officials confirmed Friday that the patient, who remained anonymous, had been located.
Health officials warned on Sunday that six people in the UK were infected with the highly transmissible P.1 strain, but one of them did not provide contact information and could not be traced – it did a furious search.
By Wednesday, the hunt for ‘Patient X’ had narrowed to 379 households in the south-east of England, the health secretary said.
Friday’s announcement puts an end to the five-day hunt after new research found that the P.1 variant was twice as contagious as some other COVID-19 strains – and could invade the immune system of patients already infected with the deadly virus .
In the United States, as of Friday, at least 13 cases of the variant – which apparently originated in the Amazon city of Manaus – have been reported in seven states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, preliminary data from a study by the University of Oxford suggest that the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective against the P.1 mutation, Reuters reported on Friday.
According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, Brazil currently has the second highest COVID-19 death rate after the US, with about 261,000 victims.
Nevertheless, President Jair Bolsonaro has constantly downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic and mocked social distance measures – even recently accusing the Brazilians of ‘whining’ after two consecutive days of record deaths in the country.
‘Enough hassle and moaning. How long will the crying continue? Bolsonaro asked the crowd at a Thursday event.
“How long will you stay at home and close everything? No one can stand it anymore. We are once again sorry about the deaths, but we need a solution. ‘
With Post threads