Covid-19: new variant with two mutations in India 1:03
(CNN) -
Peru reported 11,260 new cases of covid-19 on Wednesday night, the highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began 12 months ago, according to data published by the Ministry of Health.
The daily average number of cases in the country has increased by 31% since the beginning of March.
The total number of coronavirus cases stands at 1,492,519, while the death toll in the country reached 50,656 after 182 new deaths on Wednesday.
Lima, the capital of Peru, reports that nearly 40% of new cases are the Brazilian variant P.1, Health Minister Oscar Ugarte announced during a press conference Wednesday night.
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"The main variant that causes covid-19 in Lima reaches 39.7% and belongs to the Brazilian variant," said Ugarte.
The Brazilian variant was first identified in the Amazon region, a region that borders Brazil.
It was later found in the San Martín and Huánuco regions before only one case was identified in Lima.
Now research shows that 40% of cases in the capital are caused by this variant, explained the minister.
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"Although this explains the speed of transmission, we are not certain that this means a greater severity among the cases, we are analyzing this," added Ugarte.
Ugarte also explained that within Lima, the districts most affected by the variant are those in the east of the city with 63.2% of the cases, following the pattern of variant P.1 that has moved throughout the country of this to west.
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As of Thursday morning, Peru has the fifth highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Latin America, behind Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Peru was at the end of June the second most infected country in the region only behind Brazil.