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 The announcement came as President Joe Biden signed an order
extending a travel ban barring nearly all non-U.S. citizens who have
recently been to Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland
and 26 other European countries from entering the United States.
The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
said on Sunday that the federal government is stepping up efforts to
track coronavirus mutations as a flurry of more infectious variants
emerge around the globe.
The variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus known as Brazil P.1 was detected
in a specimen from a Minnesota resident with recent travel history
to Brazil, the state health department said in a press release. The
agency said it marks the first documented instance of the P.1
variant in the United States.
While the Brazil variant is thought to be more transmissible than
the initial strain of virus that causes COVID-19, it is not known
whether the illness it causes is more severe.
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Similarities between the Brazilian variant and a South African
variety that reduces the efficacy of three antibody treatments
developed for patients suggest the Brazil P.1 form may likewise
resist antibody treatment, scientists have said.
The so-called UK variant that first emerged in Britain has already
been detected in at least 20 U.S. states.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Lisa Shumaker in
Chicago; Editing by Chris Reese and Sonya Hepinstall)
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