Thai health officials today confirmed the first Brazilian coronavirus variant but insisted it was not in the wild.
Apisamai Srirangsan of the COVID-19 task force said that among Wednesday’s 2,112 new COVID-19 infections and 15 deaths was one case of the more lethal mutation found in state quarantine.
Apisamai sought to ensure the public that the variant has not been spreading in the population. The Brazilian variant detected early this year is believed to combine increased ease of transmission with a higher viral load. It’s upward of 80% more lethal, and the current crop of vaccines may be less effective against it.
The addition of the mutated strain would complicate the current outbreak, which health workers believe was ignited by the easily spread U.K. variant that reached Thailand after spreading worldwide.
There’s also anxiety over the apparent strain…
