The coronavirus variant called P.1, originally identified in Amazonas, already has cases in at least 17 states of the country, according to the Ministry of Health this Tuesday (23) . The variant is being studied for the possibility of being more transmissible.
The survey was based on data sent by the state health departments, which cover information up to February 20. For comparison, the balance sheet on February 12 indicated that the variant had been identified in ten states.
According to the ministry, the records of variant P.1 already add up to at least 184 cases in the country - specialists, however, point to the possibility that the number is higher, since analysis for genomic sequencing (the model used for this identification) usually targets just a sample of Covid cases.
In addition to Amazonas, which had already analyzed at least 60, the states with the highest number of records are São Paulo (with 28 cases already identified), Goiás (15), Paraíba (12), Pará (11), Bahia (11) and Rio Grande do Sul (9).
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon