08/02/2021 10:23 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 08/02/2021 10:33 PM
Scientists from Uruguay found
a variant of Covid-19 typical of that country
, which they called
P.6.
Investigators claim that it
would have contributed to the first wave of cases registered in late 2020
but was later displaced by the Brazilian P1 and, since the end of April, has disappeared.
This was stated this Monday by the Pasteur Institute, of Montevideo, in a statement in which it details that the Uruguayan variant was detected thanks to a study carried out by researchers from the Inter-Institutional Working Group (GTI) on genomic surveillance of the virus.
The report details that this variant appeared for the first time in November 2020 and
was the predominant until March
, the EFE agency reported.
"P.6 —according to the name granted by an international scientific committee— owes its name to the fact that it
derives from the variant B.1.1.28
, originated and widely distributed in Brazil during 2020," the text explains.
According to the Institute, the international scientific committee establishes that, to be considered a variant, the finding "must have mutations that distinguish it from the existing variants" and that the geographic expansion has to be different from the original.
"The Uruguayan variant
includes two relevant mutations
that are located in the Spike protein, which could be associated with an increase in transmissibility. One of the mutations has also been detected in other variants of the world, increasing its frequency towards the end of 2020, which would support the idea that it can give it
greater transmission capacity,
"he says.
After its appearance in November, the Uruguayan variant became predominant between January and February and began to decrease in March, when the P1 arrived.
So far, the last sample detected with the Uruguayan variant
dates from April 26.
"Scientists estimate that the Uruguayan variant would have played an important role in the first wave of Covid-19 in the country, since they observed a coincidence between the emergence and dissemination of this local variant with the increase in Covid-19 cases registered from November / December, "the statement concludes.
Since December 2020, Uruguay has experienced a strong growth in coronavirus cases and that worsened from March with the arrival of the Brazilian P1.
From there, the positives and deaths increased exponentially and
only in June the numbers improved
, helped by vaccination with two doses of more than 50% of the population.
In Uruguay, 63% of the population has already received both doses of the Covid vaccine.
Photo Xinhua
Epidemiological situation
The country adds
381,715 cases
of Covid-19 since the beginning of the health emergency, which was declared in Uruguay on March 13, 2020. There are 1,904 people suffering from the disease (48 hospitalized in intensive care) and the number of deaths amounts to
5,972
.
This Monday,
160 new infections and six deaths
were registered
,
according to the daily report of the National Emergency System (Sinae).
Uruguay remains in the
yellow zone
of the Harvard index, which accumulates the weekly average of new Covid-19 infections per 100,000 inhabitants and, although all departments have active cases, three of the 19 (Soriano, Flores and Lavalleja) have already been found in green.
On the other hand, the country's borders continue to be closed to non-residents, except for diplomatic, personal or economic-labor reasons, with the express authorization of the Executive.
LP
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