Issued by: Change:
A variant of coronavirus from Manaus in northern Brazil, first discovered in Japan earlier in January, is now the primary form of the virus in the hardy city of South America. As grave diggers struggle to keep up with the ever-increasing death toll, many residents have to fund their own sources of vital oxygen.
Manaus, the capital of the northern Amazonas state of Brazil, has been hit hard by the resurgence of the pandemic.
In the city of about 2.2 million their hospitals have run out of beds and life-giving oxygen for nasal congestion.
The rapid spread of the variable confirms fears that it is more infectious than the original form of the virus, said Felipe Naveca, who studies coronavirus mutations in the northern state of Amazonas.
The variability first detected early this month in people arriving in Japan from Brazil is “already very much in Manaus,” he said.
Naveca is a researcher with the Fiocruz research foundation at the Leonidas e Maria Deane Institute in Brazil.
He said the new variant was present in 51 percent of samples taken from coronavirus patients in December. By January 13 that number was 91 percent.
Now extending beyond the capital of the state
“In addition, it has spread into the interior of the state. We found it in 11 of the 13 cities we studied,” Naveca said.
Three cases of diseases with the new variant were discovered Tuesday in the South American state of Sao Paulo – the largest number with 46 million residents.
Brazil has recorded more than 218,000 deaths as a result of the coronavirus – a second-only tax to the United States.
“There were already indications that this variant is more contagious because mutations are similar to those associated with increased transmission seen in the virus variants from Britain and South Africa,” Naveca said.
“Now, data on the very high frequency with which it was detected confirms the suspicion that it is more contagious.”