Britain’s ‘mysterious patient’ infected with the highly contagious Brazilian variant of the coronavirus has finally been found after a five-day nationwide manhunt.
According to the Financial Times, two officials confirmed on Friday that the patient, who has remained unnamed, had been located.
Health officials warned on Sunday that six people in the UK had been infected with the highly transmissible P.1 strain, but one of them could not provide contact information and could not be located – sparking a frantic search.
On Wednesday, the hunt for “Patient X” had been reduced to 379 households in south-east England, the health secretary said.
Friday’s announcement ends the five-day manhunt after new research shows that the P.1 variant is twice as contagious as some other COVID-19 strains – and can invade the immune systems of patients already infected with the deadly virus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 13 cases of the variant – believed to come from the Amazon city of Manaus – have been reported in seven states as of Friday in the United States.
However, preliminary data from a University of Oxford study suggests the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective against the P.1 mutation, Reuters reported Friday.
According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, Brazil currently has the world’s second highest COVID-19 death toll, after the US, with about 261,000 casualties.
Yet President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the severity of the pandemic and made fun of measures to distance themselves. He even recently accused Brazilians of “whining” after two consecutive days of record coronavirus deaths in the country.
“Enough hassle and nagging. How long does it take to cry? Bolsonaro asked the audience at an event on Thursday.
“How long do you stay at home and lock everything off? Nobody can take it anymore. We regret the deaths again, but we need a solution. “
With pole wires