January 4th, local time, the State Department of Health of São Paulo announced that two cases of mutant COVID-19 infection were confirmed in the state.
The patients were a 25-year-old woman living in the city of São Paulo, the capital of the state, and another 34-year-old male resident of São Paulo, who had contact with her.
After contacting people with people with a recent history of traveling in the UK, the 25-year-old woman developed headache, sore throat, cough and loss of taste on December 20 local time.
The medical history of another 34-year-old male patient is still under investigation. Testing by the Adolf Lutz Institute in São Paulo, a B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 was found in both patients’ test samples.
The Brazilian federal government announced on December 23 local time that in view of the extremely infectious nature of the mutant novel coronavirus currently found in the United Kingdom, Brazil has suspended all flights from Brazil to and from the United Kingdom from December 25.
