Experts fear that this SARS-CoV-2 strain, which may be more contagious than the original virus, is resistant to vaccines against covid-19 (respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus) being administered in the UK ( Pfizer / BioNTech and AstraZeneca / Oxford).

According to health officials, the variant originating in Brazil has the same mutations (genetic changes in the virus) as the variant first identified in South Africa, identified as more transmissible.

Three of the six cases of the Manaus variant detected in the United Kingdom are located in England and the rest are in Scotland, but there is no connection between the two.

Two of the people detected in England with this strain belong to the same family, from the south of Gloucester, who had been in Brazil before the British Government imposed restrictions on travellers from this country.

The third case in England is not linked to these two.

The three cases of the Manaus strain identified in Scotland correspond to residents who returned from a trip to Brazil and made a stopover in Paris and London.

In January, the British Government suspended flights from Portugal, Brazil and other countries in South America, as well as South Africa, Angola and Mozambique to contain the spread of the new variants.

In Portugal, seven cases of the new coronavirus variant originating in Brazil have already been identified, announced a week ago by the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge.