CORONA VARIANT IN BRAZIL INFECTED MANY WHO ALREADY RECOVERED FROM COVID 19

  • 03/03/2021

A coronavirus variant of concern (VOC) first detected in Brazil may be up to 2.2 times more transmissible and cause re-infection in people already recovered from Covid-19, a new modelling study has suggested. Researchers at the University of São Paulo, in collaboration with Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, found that a second wave of infection in Manaus, a city thought to have a high level of existing immunity from the first wave, was associated with the emergence of the new P.1 variant.

Using statistical analysis of genome sequencing data, the researchers found that the P.1 lineage, which has been identified in more than 20 countries worldwide, has likely been circulating in Manaus since early November 2020. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal and available as a preprint.

They have estimated that the variant evades 25-61 per cent of protective immunity arising from infection with previously circulating variants. This means 25 to 61 out of 100 people previously infected with non-VOCs that circulated in Manaus could be re-infected if they are exposed to P.1. The study further estimated that the variant is associated with a 1.1-1.8 times increased risk of mortality compared to previous variants circulating in the Amazonian region.

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