The director of Butantan Institute, Dimas Covas, confirmed that a variant of the coronavirus similar to that of South Africa was detected in Sorocaba, in the interior of the state. Despite the similarity, the possibility of being a new variant is not ruled out.
The patient where the possible variant was identified is a 34-year-old woman, who presented mild symptoms of the disease, with a favourable clinical course. There is no history of travel by the patient or her contact with travellers to the African country. For this reason, the chances of already being a natural evolution of the Brazilian P1 strain are great.
