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Scientists study new variant of coronavirus originating in Peru or Chile

2021-04-28T18:10:47.422Z


It is likely already being 'exported' to other countries, said doctor of molecular microbiology Pablo Tsukayama. It is known as C.37 and descends from a lineage called B.1.1.1 that has circulated around the world since the beginning of the pandemic.


04/26/2021 7:47 PM

  • Clarín.com

  • World

Updated 04/26/2021 7:50 PM

Peruvian scientists are studying

a new variant of coronavirus 

that appears to have originated in Peru or Chile and is likely

already being "exported" to other countries,

said Dr. Pablo Tsukayama

, a

doctor in molecular microbiology.

"According to our analysis, among the samples presented between January and March, this new variant, which since last week has been assigned a name C.37, would

correspond to almost 40% of the samples

that we have processed in Lima," Tsukayama pointed out in statements published this Monday on the website of the station RPP Noticias.

The scientist emphasized that

the information is still "preliminary"

and has been found as part of the genomic surveillance project that is applied in his country and allows processing "a sample of approximately one hundred genomes from Lima and Peru every month."

"What we are seeing is that in December, more or less, a new variant begins to appear that we had not seen anywhere before, which is neither the British, nor the Brazilian, nor the South African,

but derives from something that is already circulating around here, "he

remarked.

The origin

Tsukayama argued that variant C.37 "is growing in Lima, then also in all of Peru" and that

there is also evidence "that it is found in Chile, Argentina

, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States and several other countries in the region." .

"All these data are preliminary, but we have a variant that has originated in either Peru or Chile, but that would already be being exported to other parts of the world," he said.

The expert reiterated that "the evidence is very preliminary", so

it cannot

currently

be confirmed

that this variant has "greater transmissibility, nor greater virulence, nor greater mortality."

"The only thing we know is that it

begins to appear

the same moment in which the second wave begins to rise in Peru. This is a correlation," he said.

Tsukayama announced at the end of last week on Twitter that the announcement of this "new lineage (variant) of SARS-CoV-2 that seems to be expanding rapidly in Peru and Chile" had been published on the page http://virological.org, "where virologists from around the world discuss their preliminary results".

He added that "more data is required to verify these observations", but

C.37 descends from a lineage called B.1.1.1

that circulates around the world since the beginning of the pandemic and that in Peru has been identified in 10.2 % of the 1,030 genomes processed in 2020.

"With the available data, we cannot be sure if C.37 originated in Peru or Chile. Both have similar epidemics in 2021 and share many daily flights. Another possibility is that it has been introduced to Chile and Peru from another country in the region. that still does not detect it, "he said.

The second wave

Tsukayama also affirmed that "it is impossible" to predict when the peak of the second wave of the pandemic that currently hits Peru, which adds

more than 1.7 million cases and is close to 60,000 deaths, will be reached.

He recalled that a month and a half ago it was considered that that peak had already been reached, because there was a decrease in infections, but then the disease

"has rebounded."

The specialist said that everything depends on the transmission capacity of the virus,

but also on the behavior of people

, so there is always the possibility that "there is a new rebound or that it begins to fall and then rise again."

"We know that this pandemic behaves in an unpredictable way," he concluded.

Source: EFE

PB

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Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-04-28

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