A new super variant of the COVID-19 virus in Brazil is a combination of 18 different mutations, including the Brazil, British and South African strains.
Scientists in the South African country have confirmed that the new strain, which was first discovered in the city of Belo Horizonte, contains multiple mutations that were already known, reported London-based CITY A.M. quoting sources.
“[It] has characteristics in common with the variants that were already circulating in Brazil but it also has new characteristics,” Renato Santana, a virologist at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, reportedly told local daily newspaper G1.
“It is as if these variants were evolving,” Santana was quoted as saying, adding the new variant includes the same genes modified by Brazil’s Manaus, known as P1, British and South African variant.
Santana was quoted as saying that the new strain has the characteristics of variants that are already associated with a higher risk of death. He said it is too early to say the new strain is more infectious or deadly.
Santana told CITY A.M. that the fast-growing number of severely ill people in Brazil could be linked to the various mutations currently in circulation in the country and beyond.
