El Salvador confirms circulation of three Covid variants “of concern”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Minister of Health of El Salvador, Francisco Alabí, confirmed this Saturday (7) that the “worrying” variants of Covid-19 – Alpha, Gamma and Delta – are circulating in the country.

Alabí said that the Health Ministry sent 100 samples to a laboratory in Panama, whose study revealed the circulation of these virus variants. “We have three of the variants of concern, and we Salvadorans must redouble our efforts and security protocols to the maximum,” the official told the press.

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He indicated that the presence in El Salvador of the Lambda variant “of interest” was also determined, which could become a variant of “concern”. On July 31, Alabí had confirmed the circulation of the Delta variant.

According to official data, the detection of these variants occurs when the increase in daily infections of Covid-19, which began last June, continues in the first days of August.

According to the records of the governmental site – covid19.gob.sv – between August 1 and 4, the number of daily cases was up to 297, similar to those registered last January.

The figures of the referred site show an increase in the number of daily reports of infections, which went from 134 cases on June 1 to 291 on August 4.

El Salvador has 88,371 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which 2,703 have died, although the authorities have not indicated the number corresponding to the D elta variant.

The country has inoculated 4,664,353 doses of covid-19 vaccine, with 1,630,122 having completed their two-dose schedule.