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Brazil detects new COVID variant

Brazil has detected a new COVID-19 variant in Sao Paulo state that is similar to the one first seen in South Africa, the head of the state’s Butantan biomedical institute said, Report informs referring to Reuters.

Speaking at a press conference the day after Brazil suffered a record 3,780 deaths in a day, Butantan President Dimas Covas said the patient with the variant had no history of travel to South Africa.

The South African variant has alarmed public health experts as there are questions over how effective current vaccines are against it. Brazil is also grappling with its own homegrown variant, called P1, which appears to be fueling a record-breaking run of infections.

“It is a variant similar to that of South Africa, although there is no history of travel or contact with travelers from South Africa,” Covas said. “There is a possibility that it is an evolution of our P1 towards this mutation in South Africa.”

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