A variant of the coronavirus from Brazil was detected in two men from Bucharest, meaning both the South African mutation and now the South American variation have reached Romania, the National Public Health Directorate (DPS) announced. The report was based on information from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Matei Balș, Hungarian news portal maszol.ro reports.
The Matei Balș Hospital informed the DSP that they detected the P1 Brazil mutation of the SarsCov2 virus in two men from Bucharest; both of them had coronavirus symptoms but had other illnesses as well. One of the patients is a 38-year-old man who had not left the country, so it is unclear where or how he became infected; the other is a 57-year-old man whose two colleagues were also infected with coronavirus, and it is possible that he got the disease from them. However, the epidemiological investigation is not closed yet.
The Brazilian coronavirus mutation called P1 is more aggressive than the original virus. Three studies published recently – although they have not yet passed the screening process of scientific journals – have confirmed that this mutation can infect those who have already had the disease, and, according to estimations, it spreads 1.4–2.2 times faster than the previous mutations.
Just three days ago, the South African coronavirus variant also reached Romania, while the UK variation was detected in 272 patients. Romanian experts claim that the increase in the number of daily infections is due to the spread of these new, more contagious viral mutations. The experts unanimously think that the UK variant is already spreading in the country on a community level and has become dominant in large cities. However, they do not have accurate data about this, as only a couple of laboratories do so-called sequential testing on a random basis, which is used for detecting new variants.
Related: British coronavirus variant spreads in Romania
Title image: All three coronavirus mutations have now been detected in Romania. Photo: Getty Images
