The first known case of a coronavirus variant in Brazil was confirmed in the United States on Monday, according to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). COVID-19 Brazil P.1 was detected in a person from the Twin Cities area who recently traveled to Brazil, CBS Minnesota reports.
The person was ill in the first week of January and was tested coronavirus on January 9th.
The case was discovered by MDH through a random audit that the agency conducts weekly. Fifty samples were collected from test partners, including the clinical laboratories of the University of Minnesota and the Infinity Biologix laboratory in Oakdale.
Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm stressed the importance of the testing program, as well as why it is important to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“The fewer people who receive COVID-19, the fewer opportunities the virus has to evolve,” Malcolm said in a statement. “The good news is that we can slow the spread of this variant and all COVID-19 variants using tried and true prevention methods of wearing masks, keeping social distance, staying home when you are sick and testing us when necessary. .
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Brazilian version “was first identified in four passengers from Brazil who were tested during routine screening at Haneda Airport outside Tokyo, Japan.”
An additional variant, known as variant B 1.1.7 or variant United Kingdom, has also been detected in several countries, including the USA and Canada. A South African variant known as 1,351 has not yet been detected in the United States
The US marked a grim stage earlier this week when COVID-19 cases exceeded 25 million, according to data reported by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, 99 million cases have been reported.
Nearly 421,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States, while more than 2.1 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19.