Minister of Health denies Claudia López about the presence of a Brazilian variant in Bogotá

New clash between the Mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, and the Minister of Health of Colombia, Fernando Ruiz. This time, for the statements that the president made in the framework of an economic reactivation table with the hotel union on the circulation of the Brazilian variant of COVID-19 in Bogotá.

López Hernández assured that the ‘strain’ p1, from Brazil, was identified in the capital of the country since last January 2, and criticized the number of doses (7,673) that the city will receive to start vaccination against the coronavirus, even more, according to her, taking into account that there are already other countries that have been vaccinating their population for three months.

“Since January 2, the Brazilian variant, for example, has been circulating in Bogotá, which is a great risk, we have managed to mitigate it so that it does not generate massive contagion effects that worry us and we are all the time with our health team public following up on other types of variants that can put us in difficulties, ”said Claudia López.

The declarations of the mayor of Bogotá unleashed various reactions from Internet users and members of the medical union in the country. It is important to remember that a few weeks ago, the National Institute of Health revealed the results of the genomic studies they conducted, in which it was evidenced that the p1 variant has only been identified in the Amazon.

This is what Claudia López said

The rifirrafe

Following the statements of Mayor Claudia López, on Friday night, the same Minister Ruiz referred to the issue on Twitter, he distorted the ruling of the president, gave a piece of tranquility to the Bogota citizens and made an “epidemiological correction” to the governor.

“Epidemiological correction necessary for Bogota citizens: until 9:00 pm today, the introduction of the Brazilian lineage (P1) has not been detected in Bogota. All reported cases are from the Amazon. If present, it would not be the dominant lineage. @MinSaludCol @infopresidencia ”.

Let us remember that since last January 2, and despite the restriction of flights to and from Leticia, capital of the Amazon, On one of the flights that entered Bogotá, from Brazil, it was confirmed that eight of the passengers tested positive for the virus. Therefore, the authorities in Bogotá are investigating whether the travelers contracted the Brazilian variant of the disease, of which there are already three confirmed cases in the country.

Likewise, at the beginning of February, the National Institute of Health (INS) confirmed that in Colombia, 327 sequences and 42 lineages of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected. This information was revealed by a genomic study carried out by the entity with the support of the Universidad de los Andes and the Renata Network in 14 departments of the country.

The institute stated that, since the last time the study was carried out, seven new lineages have been found and of the total of the variants that are circulating in the country, 12 of these were identified in the department of Amazonas.

“With the support of the Universidad de los Andes and the Renata Network, it was confirmed that there were sequences of these seven new SARS-CoV-2 lineages from 14 departments, within which there are 12 genomic sequences in Amazonas,” he said. Katherine Laiton Donato, researcher at the INS Genomics and Sequencing Unit.

In addition, the National Institute of Health assured that of the sequences obtained, “12 come from the department of Amazonas and in three of them the presence of the lineage (variant) B.1.1.28.1 / P1 originating in Brazil was determined”, which, according to The entity reported for the first time in Colombia “last Saturday, January 29,” INS said in a statement.

On the other hand, according to the results of an investigation carried out by the Universidad del Rosario, Since January 5, the variant of covid-19 from Brazil has been identified, but none has been in Bogotá.