Detection of SARS-CoV-2 lineage P.1 in patients from a region with exponentially increasing hospitalisation rate, February 2021, Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil

Andreza Francisco Martins; Alexandre Prehn Zavascki; Priscila Lamb Wink; Fabiana Caroline Zempulski Volpato; Francielle Liz Monteiro; Clévia Rosset; Fernanda De-Paris; Álvaro Krüger Ramos; Afonso Luís Barth

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.12.2100276

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 lineage P.1 in patients from a region with exponentially increasing hospitalisation rate, February 2021, Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil

Euro Surveill. 2021 Mar;26(12):2100276. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.12.2100276.

Authors

Andreza Francisco Martins^{1

2

3

4}, Alexandre Prehn Zavascki^{1

4

5

6}, Priscila Lamb Wink^{1

2

7}, Fabiana Caroline Zempulski Volpato^{1

7

8}, Francielle Liz Monteiro^{1

7}, Clévia Rosset^{7

9}, Fernanda De-Paris^{1

7}, Álvaro Krüger Ramos¹⁰, Afonso Luís Barth^{1

2

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ LABRESIS - Laboratório de Pesquisa em Resistência Bacteriana, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
² Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
³ Bioinformatic Core, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
⁴ These authors contributed equally to the work as first authors.
⁵ Internal Medicine Department, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
⁶ Infectious Diseases Service, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
⁷ Laboratório de Diagnóstico de SARS-CoV-2, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
⁸ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Médicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
⁹ Laboratório de Medicina Genômica (LMG), Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
¹⁰ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Matemática, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

PMID: 33769251
PMCID: PMC7995561
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.12.2100276

Abstract

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 P.1 lineage coincided with a surge in hospitalisations in the North region of Brazil. In the South region's Rio Grande do Sul state, severe COVID-19 case numbers rose 3.8 fold in February 2021. During that month, at a COVID-19 referral hospital in this state, whole-genome sequencing of a subset of cases' specimens (n = 27) revealed P.1 lineage SARS-CoV-2 in most (n = 24). Findings raise concerns regarding a possible association between lineage P.1 and rapid case and hospitalisation increases.

Keywords: COVID-19; P.1 lineage; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Brazil / epidemiology
COVID-19 / diagnosis*
COVID-19 / virology*
Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data
Humans
SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification*
Whole Genome Sequencing