The graves bury a victim of the Covid-19 while they were surrounded by relatives in the cemetery of Nossa Senhora Aparecida in Manaus on 13 January.
Photographer: Michael Dantas / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Michael Dantas / AFP / Getty Images
Brazilian researchers warn that a new strain of coronavirus detected a few days ago could aggravate an outbreak in Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon rainforest.
Experts are willing to infer the increase in cases left by Manaus hospitals no beds available and oxygen is tied to the new strain, but they have not yet been able to confirm the suspicion. Although the variant appears to be more transmissible, half a dozen researchers say there are still not enough studies to say it is responsible for the fastest spread and that there is no evidence as to whether it causes a more severe form of Covid-19. .
“We suspect it is more transmissible, according to data we have from strains in the UK and South Africa,” said Felipe Naveca, a researcher at Fiocruz Amazonia who helped sequence the virus’s genome. “But the Manaus variant has many more mutations than the others.”
On Friday, Fiocruz confirmed a case of reinfection by a new strain: a 29-year-old woman who had been first diagnosed in March and received a second diagnosis of coronavirus on December 30th.
The United Kingdom bans arrivals from South America and Portugal to the variant
The new variant has not yet been found in other areas of Brazil, although researchers see it only in a matter of time. Four people returning from Manaus were first detected in Japan last weekend.
Doubts about immunity
Brazilian scientists have also found strains in Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. Fernando Spilki, a professor of virology who has been working on an initiative to sequence the genomes of the virus, says there have been “three or four” new variants detected in Brazil. The concern is that different lineages show similar mutations, some of which may lead him to evade antibodies that people may already have against another strain.
The strain of the S. Africa virus is more transmissible and not more severe
“It’s like they all evolved at the same time and in the same way, even if they weren’t directly related,” he said. “This may mean we have a high number of cases, even in populations that already have immunity.”
Relatives are attending a funeral at Nossa Senhora Aparecida Cemetery on January 13th
Photographer: Michael Dantas / AFP / Getty Images
There is also no information on whether existing vaccines will work against the new strain. Brazil, which has not started vaccinating, has opted for two shots: the CoronaVac from Sinovac Biotech Ltd and the AstraZeneca / Oxford reinforcement. Health regulator Anvisa has a meeting on Sunday to decide on emergency use applications for both.
“The faster you get vaccinated, the less the virus mutates,” said Bergmann Morais Ribeiro, an expert in molecular biology of the virus who helped sequence the virus’s genome. “It reduces the chances of having a virus that is really worrisome, which makes the disease more serious.”
Vaccine Debacle
If Anvisa is cleaned up, it would take three to five days to deploy the vaccines to the states; the government has said it plans to start immunizing Brazil’s 210 million people next week. The South American nation has the second highest mortality and third coronavirus infection worldwide.
At the moment, the only plan available in the country is CoronaVac. President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday that the government The plan to import two million doses of Astra booster from India to speed up vaccinations has been delayed for several days, the newspaper Valor Economico was quoted as saying in a TV interview.
Without oxygen
Manaus, the state capital of the Amazon, is collapsing under the pressure of the second wave of the virus. Cases and deaths have risen to levels last seen in May. The state has begun transporting patients to other states amid reports of patients dying of suffocation.
The health ministry said on Friday that it will hire 2,500 health professionals to help Manaus and that it will get enough oxygen to keep 61 premature babies who are in the ICU city for the next 48 hours.
State Governor Wilson Lima said oxygen demand has far exceeded what was seen in 2020, firing up to 75,000 cubic meters from 15,000 in just 10 days and making preparations useless. Amazon still needs to transfer at least 400 patients to other states to control the shortage, he said. Ships and trucks with oxygen cylinders are expected to arrive in the next 24 hours.
The rainy season in the Amazon rainforest, which begins in November, increases respiratory illnesses, Naveca said. But experts also blame it on something else: the abandonment of social distancing measures.
EMTs take a patient to the August 28 hospital in Manaus on January 14.
Photographer: Michael Dantas / AFP / Getty Images
Bolsonaro is wary of coveted vaccines and Brazil is lagging behind
“Social distancing and other individual protection measures were abandoned when officials relaxed the rules, allowing activities to resume,” said Bernardino Albuquerque, an infectious disease expert and professor at Amazon Federal University. “When they went back in December, it was too late. It was already out of control, and that’s what we’re seeing in January as well. “
On Thursday, officials imposed a curfew at 7 a.m. and suspended public transportation by roads and rivers to contain the spread of the disease. Although Lima says the situation is still very serious, the local government has ruled out the closures.
“There are restrictive measures to prevent social contact, but if the measures are too extreme, they can have the opposite effect,” he said.
– With the assistance of Martha Viotti Beck