To date, the National Health Institute (INS) has performed genomic sequencing on 2,010 samples from patients diagnosed with COVID-19, which were collected through RT-PCR testing from January to June this year and analyzed in the genomic surveillance platform set up at the biomedicine laboratory, the
Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported on Sunday.
The tests come from 24 regions across Peru, including the Constitutional Province of Callao, where the predominance of the Lambda variant (C37) has been observed in 1,416 (70.9%) of the tested cases.
The second most predominant variant is Gamma (P.1) with 305 cases (15.2%), which was more frequent in the eastern macro-region.
On the other hand, other variants were present in the samples: Alpha (B.1.1.7), Epsilon (B.1429), Zeta (P.2), as well as other lineages.
Additionally, the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) —classified as variant of concern— was first identified in a 78-year-old patient from Cerro Colorado district in Arequipa region.
Three additional Delta variant cases have been identified so far, two of which are related to the first case, while the other one was detected in the district of Comas (Metropolitan Lima).
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) stated that the INS is in charge of confirming the presence of variants of concern in Peru, noting that it will continue to conduct genomic surveillance and to collaborate with the National Genomic Surveillance Network.
In addition, said institution is working closely with the National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Disease Control (CDC) —which is in charge of the epidemiological research of the cases attributed to the Delta variant— in coordination with the Directorate of Integrated Health Networks (Diris) in Northern Lima and the Regional Health Management Office in Arequipa.
(END) NDP/LIT/RMB
Published: 6/27/2021