Both cases were women in their 30s who had typical symptoms of mild to moderate flu and did not become seriously ill or required hospitalization. In one case, the two identified variants had been circulating in Brazil since the beginning of the pandemic. In the other case, the person was simultaneously infected with an older strain of the virus and with the P.2 variant first identified in Rio de Janeiro.
The results, based on the analysis of the genomic sequencing of 92 samples collected in Rio Grande do Sul, will be published in the April issue of the scientific journal Virus Research.
According to the study, coinfection raises the possibility of recombination of the genomes of the different strains, which can generate new variants of the coronavirus.
“Although there are some reported cases of reinfection, the possibility of co-infection by E484K adds a new factor to the complex interaction between the immune response systems and the SARS-CoV-2 Spike mutations,” wrote the authors.
The news comes at a time when Brazil’s second wave plunges the country into crisis once again. The country recorded 2,233 new deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, and at least 272,889 people have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
ICUs and hospitals across the country are almost full, and governors, state health secretaries and mayors are calling for more restrictive measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
On Thursday, the governor of the state of São Paulo, João Doria, announced new emergency blockade measures in the richest and most populous state of Brazil.
“Brazil is collapsing,” he said in a video released moments before a news conference on the new measures – in contrast to the guarantees of Brazil’s Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, just a day earlier.
“Our health system is very impacted, but it has not collapsed nor will it collapse,” said Pazuello on Wednesday, attributing the increase in hospitalizations and deaths in the country “mainly to the new variants of the coronavirus”.
During the same observations, Pazuello also lowered expectations for Brazil’s vaccination campaign, estimating that 22 to 25 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine would be available by March – a sharp drop from the Ministry of Health’s forecast February of 46 million doses.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro – himself being criticized for the way his government has dealt with the pandemic – continues to reject blocking measures, invoking the health of the economy instead.
“How long will our economy resist? If (the economy) collapses, it will be a shame. What will we have soon? Supermarket raids, burning buses, strikes, pickets, work stoppages, ”he said in a videoconference with lawmakers Thursday.