This conclusion was reached by the Inter-institutional Working Group for the Monitoring of Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus, which causes the disease, made up of representatives of the Public Health Ministry, the Pasteur Institute and the University of the Republic.

Of a total of 493 samples analyzed throughout the country, 89 percent were found to contain the aggressive strain that originally appeared in Brazil.

Pilar Moreno, professor and researcher at the Molecular Virology Laboratory, explained that a new methodology is being used to screen for ‘variants of concern’ rapidly and to detect known variants more quickly, which will then be confirmed by sequencing.

Moreno also warned of the P1 virulence in younger age groups, as indicated by statistics on those infected in the last few weeks, which even include infants.

The National Emergency System reported 2,939 new cases of Covid-19 and 46 deaths as a consequence of the disease, for a total of 2,497 to date.

Uruguay is among the countries with the highest daily proportional infection per million inhabitants.

jg/abo/agp/hr