Brazil discovers new coronavirus variant similar to one from South Africa

Brazilian health authorities announced they have detected a new coronavirus variant found in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo.

“It is a variant simiilar to that of South Africa, although there is no history of travel or contact with travelers from South Africa,” Dimas Covas, the president of the public Buntatan biomedical institute said during a press conference.

The country is already struggling with another homegrown variant of the virus, called P1, which the authorities detected in January.

“There is the possibility that it is the evolution of our P1 towards the mutation in South Africa,” Covas said on Wednesday.

The discovery of the new Sao Paulo variant comes as Brazil closes out its worst month of the pandemic so far.

“We’re at the worst moment of the pandemic, and indications are that April will be very bad too,” Espirito Santo Federal University epidemiologist Ethel Maciel told the AFP news agency.

Brazil’s low income favela communities and indigenous population have been hit particularly hard by the virus.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday pledged to spend 5.3 billion reais ($918 million, €783 million) to prop up the country’s ailing health system. The right-wing leader is often criticized over his government’s poor vaccine rollout and for denying the severity of the pandemic.

MTO/Reuters