A new type of coronavirus has been spotted in a man in the state of Minnesota who has recently traveled to Brazil. Reportedly this man has brought the Brazilian Covid variant in the country, confirmed by the state health department on Monday.
The P.1 Brazilian Covid variant has reached the US, according to an official statement by the Minnesota Department of Health. This patient is a resident of Minneapolis-St. Paul locality felt sick after returning from his trip to Brazil, in the first week of this month. Right now, the epidemiologists are working on gathering information from this patient to know his travel history, interactions, and contacts during this trip.
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This case has come forward in a time when there is no other immediate news on new cases in Minnesota communities. It is normal for the viruses to mutate and this mutated version is often called a ‘variant’ of the original virus.
Interestingly, this Brazilian Covid variant is not the only mutate version of coronavirus. Before this, the UK and South African variants have also been confirmed and reported within the US. All of these variants are reported to be much deadlier and easy to transmit than the real coronavirus. Researchers suspect that these variants will lead to millions of deaths if left uncontrolled.
This Brazilian Covid variant was identified in four people during their airport test at Tokyo airport Japan, This new variant has certain mutates inside which may prevent the antibodies to identify them. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes that all mutated viruses may share this same property.
On the other side, after spotting this variant in the state, the Minnesota Department of Health is all set to monitor for all possible variants of coronavirus. Under this program, they will test 50 random samples obtained from theUniversity of Minnesota laboratories every week.
Jan Malcolm, the Health Commissioner of the state says that these new findings suggest testing of all the suspected patients to control the spread of coronavirus. Even if everyone does his job well, there is still a chance for this virus to hit the public because evolving is a part of its survival, he said.
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But this also gives a new reason to control the spread of coronavirus. If it spreads to fewer people, there is the least chance for it to mutate again. It suggests everyone follow social distancing, wearing masks, and taking care of the diet in all possible ways to lower the chances of contracting the virus. Health experts advise all people who suspect having symptoms to get a test immediately. There is also a chance to get this new Brazilian Covid variant even if a person has been infected and recovered in the past. However, this reinfection is not confirmed yet.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are at least 195 cases of mutated UK-based Covid variant inside the US. And this data is only from 22 states including Minnesota. Although the South African variant is still not identified in the country. But there are high chances for them to show up anytime in the future.
