Brazil's President Bolsonaro relies on contamination in his corona policy.
This opens the door to the virus.
Researchers are calling for sanctions.
Manaus / Brazil - Jair Bolsonora remains inactive in the corona pandemic.
Brazil's right-wing extremist president vehemently describes Covid-19 as "mild flu".
Masks are for "wimps and fagots," he said.
Politicians who declare lockdown called Bolsonaro "criminal".
He knowingly ignores the slow pace of vaccination in the country and spreads strange allusions.
The best protection against the disease is to simply go through Covid-19, Bolsonaro said recently.
This politics of chaos and inaction is making itself felt in a terrible way in Brazil.
Almost 12 million people are or have already contracted Covid-19 there.
In the past few weeks, around 2,000 patients have died every day as a result of an infection.
Coronavirus: Brazil global hotspot - Bolsonaro policy has dire side effects
The infection process in Brazil is out of control again.
And it is evidently developing a whole new dynamic.
Corona mutants are on the rise.
The Bolsonaro government did not publish any studies on this.
However, the statements made by experts and medical staff paint a clear picture.
"It was frightening," says Ana Cunha, a doctor in Manaus, the
Spiegel
, "suddenly we had young people here without end, strong, healthy people without previous illnesses, whom we had to supply more and more quickly with oxygen."
The two-million metropolis of Manaus was already considering itself a winner in the fight against the pandemic after a hard time.
The hospitals collapsed in April 2020, but the situation remained stable for months after the first wave.
Scientists from Great Britain and Brazil analyzed thousands of blood samples.
They indicated herd immunity in Manaus.
The city was almost completely contaminated.
Corona in Brazil: Manaus variant tears the country into crisis - mutant probably overrides the immune defense
But now the corona situation is suddenly out of control again.
How did this happen so quickly?
It is arguably more than just a suspicion that the virus is no longer the same.
It probably mutated in November.
Scientists refer to the Manaus variant as "P.1" for short.
A change in the virus shell makes it much more contagious than the original corona form.
Previously unpublished studies, which
Der Spiegel
claims to have had a look at, also show that the P.1 mutant overrides the immune defense gained from previous infections.
The more people a virus reaches, the more often mutations take place.
And the more likely a dangerous variant will emerge.
In addition to the unbelievable humanitarian damage, that is the great danger of Bolsonaro's investigation plan.
If the coronavirus continues to spread unhindered in Brazil, the next threatening variants are only a matter of time.
Corona mutants in Brazil: Bolsonaro's pandemic policy apparently poses a global threat
Scientists warn that this could have dire consequences worldwide.
If Brazil does nothing against the development, new, vaccine-resistant super mutants could emerge here.
In the worst case, all global efforts in the fight against the coronavirus would be completely wiped out, so the fear.
The developments in Manaus show how rapidly the corona situation can worsen.
"It is spooky how quickly it went," explains Felipe Naveca, researcher at the prestigious Fiocruz Corona Institute,
Der Spiegel
.
In November there were still no traces of the P.1 variant in the state of Amazonas.
In December, half of all infections could be traced back to the mutant.
In January it was already 90 percent, in February almost all of them.