Mexico identifies and confirms first case of coronavirus variant from India

The variant of the virus from India, identified as B.1. 617 of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and which has a high transmission capacity, was detected by the Mexican authorities in the state of San Luis Potosí.

Photo: Reform Agency

Mexican authorities identified in the State of San Luis Potosí the first case of a variant of coronavirus from of the India which has a high transmission capacity.

This is the variant B.1. 617 virus SARS-CoV-2 that was detected in a sample of a person who resides in the capital of Potosí.

“We inform you that yesterday INDRE notified us of three new isolates. That is, in three samples variants were identified; two of it are unimportant, and one that is of interest and fair is B.1. 617, which was originally identified in India and is known as a variant of India, ”he said. Miguel Ángel Lutzow , Secretary of Health of that state.

“It has already been identified in our Country and in fact, the first time it is identified is here in San Luis Potosí ”, he commented.

The variant B.1. 617 was identified in October 2020 and circulates in the India, United Kingdom and United States , stated Ángel Lutzow.

“The entire investigation process is being carried out. Most likely it was due to contact with people who had been in the United States ”, he pointed out.

Detection is part of the genomic surveillance of the epidemic to identify the risks of contagion.

“It is associated with an increase in transmissibility and could be related to affectation in treatment; in antibodies, ”he said.

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The Secretary of Health of the state of Potosino said that the arrival of this variant in Mexico should not be surprising, because the virus has a great mutation capacity and what is needed is to reinforce the preventive measures.

For his part Ricardo Cortés Alcalá , Director General of Health Promotion of the Government of Mexico , confirmed in a virtual conference that the The presence of this virus is a “variant of interest but not a variant of concern.”

“A first case of this variant has been detected and it is important to comment that the variant that is affecting India is a variant of interest but it is not a variant of concern, this is how the World Health Organization, not the government of Mexico, not the Ministry of Health, not the General Directorate of Epidemiology if not the World Health Organization thus classifies them, variants of interest or variants of concern ”, he pointed out