Data from the Genomic Network of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation on the lineages and variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus in Brazil, points out that more than 99.7% of the genomes sequenced in February correspond to the Ômicron variant.
The publication, released this Friday (11), also indicates that the circulation of the BA.2 subvariant, detected in the country in early February, is considered low: until the closing of the report, 21 genomes of this lineage were recorded.
At the moment, Ômicron is classified in more than 40 strains, starting with the acronym BA. In Brazil, only three were identified: BA.1 (13,072 genomes), BA.1.1 (2,193 genomes) and BA.2 (21 genomes).
The National Reference Laboratory also sequenced the genomes of the first and second samples of 10 reinfection cases related to BA.1.
In February, the Ômicron variant corresponded to more than 99.7% of the sequenced genomes, compared to 95.9% in January and 39.4% in December. Data in the report refer to the period from February 11 to March 3, 2022.
In these three weeks, the Laboratory of Respiratory Viruses and Measles of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz), in Rio de Janeiro, and the laboratories that are part of the Fiocruz Genomic Network in five other states (Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Minas Gerais and Pernambuco) produced 2,971 genomes.
Along with the Piauí and Paraná units, these eight monitoring centers serve the 26 Brazilian states, in addition to the Federal District.
In this report, the median interval between sample collection and genome deposit at Gisaid was 59 days, with significant differences between federative units.
However, the researchers point out that there is a strong tendency to decrease this interval, since, in recent months, the median has been below 31 days.
Since the beginning of its activities, the Fiocruz Genomic Network has already produced 560 reports, totaling 36,476 sequenced genomes.
Check out all the institutions that make up the Fiocruz Genomic Network. The information was collected by the Network’s researchers from the partnership and collaboration with the State Public Health Laboratories (Lacens), the General Coordination of Laboratories of the Ministry of Health, Laboratories of Diagnostic Assistance from Fiocruz and other Brazilian institutions.
Access to Gisaid’s EpiCoV database, an international genomic surveillance initiative for the new coronavirus and Influenza, also supports the Network’s monitoring work.
RT-PCR tests
In January, the Fiocruz Genomic Network website started to provide information on RT-PCR tests capable of inferring the presence of variants of concern, such as Gamma, Delta or Ômicron.
These tests are being carried out by Lacens and by Fiocruz’s Diagnostic Assistance Laboratories.
The results of this monitoring exercise showed a high degree of agreement with the sequencing data, suggesting a circulation rate of over 99% of Ômicron as of January.
An advantage of this approach is the speed in returning results without the need to sequence the samples, in addition to the possibility of this type of examination being decentralized and performed in several other centers in the country.
From November 2021 to February 2022, 12,187 tests were carried out in 19 federative units (Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Distrito Federal, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte , Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Sergipe and Tocantins).
Source: CNN Brasil
