09/05/2023 – 23:05
The Ministry of Health reported this Tuesday (5) that it is not possible to attribute the increase in cases of the disease in the country to the new variant of covid-19, EG.5, known as Eris. According to the ministry, there was a 6% increase in the number of confirmed cases of covid-19, in the comparison between epidemiological weeks 31 (July 30 to August 5) and 32 (August 6 to August 12). The high, according to the folder, however, is within the expected period.
“According to data sent by the State Health Secretariats, between epidemiological weeks (SE) 31 and 32 of 2023, an increase of 6% was observed in the number of reported cases of covid-19, a rate within the expected range for this time of year, when cases of respiratory infections increase. It is still premature to say that the increase is caused by the new EG.5 variant”, said the folder, in a note.
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So far, four cases of the new EG.5 variant have been reported in Brazil: two in São Paulo, one in the Federal District and one in Rio de Janeiro.
The ministry reinforced that vaccination remains the main measure to prevent severe cases of the disease. “The recommendation remains for groups at higher risk of aggravation from the disease to continue to follow prevention and control measures, such as the use of masks in closed, poorly ventilated or crowded places, in addition to isolating patients infected with the virus. virus”.
The folder also highlighted that the entire network of the Unified Health System (SUS) is making available, free of charge, the antiviral nirmatrelvir/ritonavir to be used in the treatment of infection by the virus as soon as the symptoms appear and there is confirmation of a positive test in people from the groups of risk.
increase in cases
Two entities that use data from the private complementary health network recorded significant increases in positive results in covid-19 detection tests in recent weeks.
According to the Brazilian Association of Diagnostic Medicine (Abramed), the positivity of covid-19 tests increased from 6.3%, in the week of July 27 to August 4, to 13.8%, in the week of 12 to August 18th. The entity uses data from private companies that represent 65% of the volume of exams performed by supplementary health in the country.
According to Instituto Todos Pela Saúde, which uses data from Dasa, DB Molecular, Fleury, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein (HIAE), Hilab, HLAGyn and Sabin laboratories, the rate of positive results for SARS-CoV-2 (covid-19) has doubled in one month, going from 7% to 15.3% between the weeks ended July 22nd and August 19th. The highest percentages were observed in the age groups from 49 to 59 years old (21.4%) and over 80 years old (20.9%).
For virologist and researcher at Instituto Todos Pela Saúde, Anderson Fernandes de Brito, the increase in positive results may be linked to the arrival of the new variant in Brazil.
“When we look, for example, at data from countries that are still maintaining larger volumes of sequencing [genômico das variantes] like the United States, for example, we observe that the EG.5 variant has increased in frequency week after week”, highlights Brito.
“There is a certain delay between collecting a sample and it becoming a genome [no Brasil]. And this delay, sometimes, it can take weeks, two, three, four weeks. This is a very common pattern. So it will take some time for us to observe that this variant is increasing in frequency [também no Brasil]”, he added.
The virologist highlighted that vaccination against covid-19 is the best way to protect yourself from the disease.
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