38 cases of the Delta AY.4.2 variant were registered in Portugal, 25 of which in the Algarve region
The Delta variant presented a relative frequency of 100% in Portugal in week 44, between 1 and 7 November, this Tuesday revealed the Institute’s most recent situation report on the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal. The National Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), stating that “the value is provisional as the data is still being calculated”.
In weeks 42 and 43 (between 18 and 31 October), with samples closed and analyzes completed, a relative frequency of 100% and 99.8% was recorded for a Delta variant (B.1.617.2), respectively. The only “non-Delta” case, whose analysis has already been completed, refers to a case of the ‘Mu’ variant, associated with Colombia, registered in the North region, in week 43.
The report contains a sample that “involved laboratories distributed throughout the 18 districts of mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, covering an average of 128 municipalities per week”.
In Portugal, 11,442 sequences of the Delta variant were analyzed, which are divided into more than 100 rapids, “as a result of the recent update of the nomenclature, which qualifies for a greater discrimination of the analyzed sequences”. The INSA highlights “the current circulation of several” sequences, with 27 being detected consecutively in the last three weeks or in the current week under analysis. “At national level, only the AY.43 preference presents a relative frequency with an increasing trend, changing a marked event of relative frequency between weeks 42 (13.5%) and 43 (20.2%)”, it reads.
At the regional level, the relative frequency of the AY.26 prevalence has remained stable, continuing to be detected essentially in the Alentejo and Lisbon and Vale do Tejo regions.
On the other hand, preference AY.46.6 circulates predominantly in the Alentejo region, having represented around 14% of those analyzed in that region in week 43, “which represents a slight increase in relation to the previous week”.
With regard to the AY.4.2 discharge, “there was an increase in circulation from week 42 (October 18th to 24th), revealing a relative frequency that tends to increase from 1.8% (week 42) to 2.9 “.
The report also states that no case associated with the Gamma variant (P.1) has been detected since week 37 (September 13th to 19th), a situation similar to the Beta variant, which has not been detected since week 29 (19th to September). July 25).
Since April 2020, INSA has been developing the ‘Study of the genetic diversity of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in Portugal’, with the aim of “determining the mutational profiles of SARS-CoV-2 for identification and monitoring of chains of transmission of the new coronavirus ”and identify“ new introductions of the virus in Portugal ”.
To date, 20,923 sequences of the genome of the new coronavirus have been analyzed, corrected from those collected in more than 100 laboratories, hospitals and institutions, representing 303 municipalities in Portugal.