Amazon COVID-19 variant may be 3 times more contagious: Brazil

A coronavirus variant found in Brazil’s Amazon may be three times more contagious, the country’s Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said, adding that early analysis suggests that vaccines are still effective against it.

He also said that Brazil aims to vaccinate half of its eligible population by June. Brazil began immunisations with vaccines made by China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca about three weeks ago.

However, Pazuello did not explain how their effectiveness against the Manaus variant was analysed.