News > Brazil, Country With 'Worst COVID-19 Response', Confronts Threat of New Variant
Brazil, Country With 'Worst COVID-19 Response', Confronts Threat of New Variant
Science | 13/02/2021 09:05 PM | Click to read full article
On January 10, 2021, Japanese health authorities informed their Brazilian counterparts that four tourists who had just returned home with symptoms of COVID-19 after a trip to the Amazon were carrying a new variant of SARS-CoV-2. While that made it similar to the mutations found in the UK and South Africa, it was probably more contagious.
In Manaus, the number of cases involving this strain increased from 52% in December 2020 to 85% in January 2021.