Brazil’s Maranhão state to receive 600,000 rapid tests for Indian Covid-19 variant

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – São Luís, capital of Maranhão, and neighboring cities will be supplied with some 300,000 extra doses of the vaccine against the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). The announcement was made by the Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga, upon landing in São Luís on Sunday afternoon, May 23.

The Health Minister flew to the city to monitor the shipment of 600,000 rapid tests to identify potential cases of the Indian Covid-19 variant in the city of São Luís.

“Yesterday I talked to Mayor Eduardo Braide and he asked me to expand the vaccine coverage in the capital and island cities and this was granted by the National Immunization Program (NIP),” said Queiroga.

Pfizer and AstraZeneca immunizers will be supplied. The Minister said that this will be a 5% increase over the previously planned amount. The doses will be distributed to the cities of São Luís, Paço do Lumiar, Raposa and São José de Ribamar. The Minister did not specify when the vaccines will be delivered.

Queiroga was welcomed at the Marechal Hugo da Cunha Machado airport in São Luís by the capital’s mayor Eduardo Braide, the Municipal Health Secretary Joel Nunes, and the State Health Secretary and president of the National Council of Health Secretaries (CONASS), Carlos Lula.

Contention

The Minister also talked about the delivery of testing kits, which will be passed on to the municipal and state health secretaries. The kits are part of the measures to contain the Indian novel coronavirus variant, as the capital of Maranhão recorded the case of a patient infected with this new strain this week.

“We will have 5% more vaccines, that adds up to approximately 300,000 doses this first moment. In addition, the Ministry of Health will deliver 600,000 rapid test units to secretaries so that we may diagnose these cases and, eventually detect this Indian strain,” he said.

The presence of the new B.1.617.2 strain was confirmed in the state on Thursday, May 20, when 6 cases were detected among 24 crew members of the ship MV Shandong Da Zhi, which came from China and is in isolation in Maranhão.

Indian variant

The patient hospitalized in São Luís infected with the B.1.617.2 Indian variant of the novel coronavirus has worsened and needed intubation.

“The State Health Secretariat further reports that the 23 crew members on board the ship are asymptomatic and are still in quarantine. As for the only crew member hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in São Luís, the latest update confirms that he is still in a critical condition.”

In addition, the Minister said that the vaccination of all port and airport workers in Brazil has been implemented. The Minister added that the kits will help monitor the potential for community transmission of the Indian variant of the novel coronavirus.

“We are all alert to the Indian variant in order to prevent its community transmission,” said Minister Queiroga.

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