‘Brazil can no longer stand a lockdown,’ says Bolsonaro about new variant

President Jair Bolsonaro defended this Friday (26) the adoption of “rational measures” to contain the arrival of omicron, the new variant of the new coronavirus. He ruled out a new lockdown or border closure.

Bolsonaro stated that he debated with the president of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), Admiral Antônio Barra Torres, and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Ciro Nogueira (PP), the measures to be taken.

“Brazil can’t stand a lockdown any longer. I spoke with Admiral Barra Torres, with the Ciro of the Casa Civil discussing Argentina. Anyone who comes here by car from Argentina, no problem. Anyone who comes by plane has to spend four days in quarantine. Let’s go. take rational measures,” he said, without making it clear whether the decision has already been taken or not and whether it would extend to other borders.

The Ministry of Health issued a risk alert to the Health Departments about the new variant. According to the document, until this Friday (26) no case of Covid in Brazil caused by this strain has been identified.

Despite Bolsonaro’s speech, Brazil did not carry out a lockdown, the radical confinement to combat the transmission of the coronavirus, during the pandemic. In this type of intervention, the population has very reduced mobility for a certain period, as a strategy to contain the spread.

Anvisa suggested this Friday (26) to limit the entry into Brazil of those who were, in the last 14 days, in six African countries: South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland (Eswatini), Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Argentina is not among the countries mentioned.

The idea is to prevent the spread in Brazil of a new, potentially more transmissible variant of Covid-19, B.1.1.529.

The Ministries of the Civil House, Justice and Health will decide whether or not to accept Anvisa’s suggestions for sanitary border control. as revealed to sheet, the government has ignored since the 12th the suggestion of the agency to adopt the “vaccine passport” for entry by land or on international flights in Brazil.

The president again criticized the realization of the Carnival events, but claimed that he did not have the means to prevent the party.

“I don’t have the command to fight the pandemic. The STF decision delegated it to the governors and mayors. I did my part, with resources and materials,” he said, in theory already denied by the Supreme Court.

Omicron

Detected earlier this week in South Africa, the new variant of Sars-Cov-2, which causes Covid, was named as omicron this Friday afternoon (26) by the WHO (World Health Organization).

It was directly classified as a “concern variant” because of the potential risk of being more transmissible than the previous ones.

Even before this assessment, the large number of mutations in the variant generated a great wave of concern in several countries around the world.

It is still early to have scientific evidence of its effects on contagion, disease severity or vaccine effectiveness, but governments preferred to stay ahead as task forces of scientists work “24 hours a day” to understand it.

One of the first virologists to call attention to the variant, Tom Peacock of Imperial College London, pointed out that the mutations made in protein S were the “most horrible” ever seen, and that it was the first time he had seen not one but two mutations “at the furin cleavage site” (one of the processes necessary for the pathogen to enter human cells).

The director of Ceri (South Africa’s Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation), Túlio de Oliveira, said on Thursday (25) that the variant surprised virologists, because “it took a great leap forward in evolution and has many more mutations than expected”.

The variant has 50 mutations in total and more than 30 in protein S, the most worrying, because it is from this protein that vaccines are produced.

If its structure is significantly altered compared to that used for the production of vaccines against Covid, there is a concern that the immunizers will lose effectiveness against the variant.

For now, there is not enough research on how the variant works or how it reacts to vaccines and antibodies from those who have developed natural immunity. WHO said it could take a few weeks to better understand the impact of the new variant.​

Scientists believe it is more contagious because, according to preliminary data, the new variant has rapidly increased in Gauteng province, the most populous in South Africa, and may already be present in the country’s other eight provinces.

According to the director of Ceri, genomic surveillance shows that, in less than two weeks, the omicron already stands out in relation to infections by other variants of Covid, right after “a devastating wave of the delta”.

Researchers say that about 90% of new cases in Gauteng could be associated with omicron.

According to the WHO technical support group, “In recent weeks, infections have increased sharply in South Africa, coinciding with the detection of the B.1.1.529 variant [agora chamada de ômicron]”.

“This variant was detected at faster rates than previous peaks of infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage — which indicates that it may cause more damage than the original version of the coronavirus.”