The Butantan Institute announced on Monday (26) that its researchers had located three variants of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, which causes Covid-19. They are: the South African variant (B.1.351); the Swiss (B.1.318); and a mutation of the Amazon variant, the N9.
The variants were located by means of genomic sequencing, carried out on positive samples diagnosed in the institute's laboratories. For now, it is not possible to say whether they are more or less transmissible or aggressive than the already identified variants and P1 and P2.
Among the three, the one that causes the greatest concern is the South African variant, already located in Brazil. The new strains of this variant were identified last week in Baixada Santista. Previously, researchers had already located this variant in Sorocaba, in the interior of São Paulo.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon