The Brazilian Covid variant detected in the UK is running rife in the Amazon city where it first emerged, despite the population approaching herd immunity - suggesting the new strain can evade existing antibodies.
Scientists believe that around 75 per cent of Manaus population was infected by the virus during Brazil s disastrous first wave last year, which should have given it one of the highest levels of immunity in the world.
But despite this, Manaus has suffered a resurgence in infections blamed on the P1 variant - with hospitals running out of oxygen last month and record numbers of burials taking place in the city.
Health officials say six people so far have the variant, first found in the South American country.
Three are in England- and officials are desperately hunting for one person as they don t have their details.
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A family member watches as public funeral service workers remove the body of Amelia Dias Nascimento, 94, who died from complications related to COVID-19 in her home, in Manaus, Brazil.(AP) The individual did not complete their test registration card so follow-up details are not available, Public Health England, said.
The other two cases are people in Gloucestershire in the south west of England, who had been in Brazil, Public Health England, said.
Brazil death toll tops 250,000 as the pandemic continues to worsen: ‘There’s no plan, at all’
Updated Feb 25, 2021;
Posted Feb 25, 2021
Health workers wheel in a patient suspected of suffering from COVID-19 into the Luziania field hospital, a suburb of Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. With the cities on the borders of Brasilia in a state of calamity due to the pandemic and with high occupancy at ICU units, mayors want to implement more rigid restrictions and limit access to the capital where many of their residents work. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)AP
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RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil’s COVID-19 death toll, which surpassed 250,000 on Thursday, is the world’s second-highest for the same reason its second wave has yet to fade: Prevention was never made a priority, experts say.