Public Health England is searching for an individual thought to be infected with the highly transmissible Brazilian variant of coronavirus, after up to three cases were found in England and a further three in Scotland.
The P1 variant, also known as the B1128 variant, shares some of the same mutations as the highly transmissible South African variant, such as E484K and N501Y, and overall has more than 20 changes, deletions, mutations and insertions in its genome. It was first identified in Manaus, Brazil.
A report from Brazilian researchers said it was “potentially associated with an increase in transmissibility or propensity for reinfection of individuals”. It is also possible this variant may respond less well to current vaccines, but more work is needed to understand this.
Two of the English cases are from a single household in South Gloucestershire, a member of whom recently returned from Brazil. Their contacts have been identified and retested, but surge testing is being rolled out in the local area as a precaution.
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