Brazilians OBLIVIOUS to new strain of coronavirus sweeping the country

In Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, hairdresser Luciano Ferraz, said he didn't know about the new variant of the virus.

Ana Claudia Fernandes, an Uber driver in Rio de Janeiro, blamed the government for failing to keep its people informed about the virus.

Pictured: Ana Claudia Fernandes, an Uber driver in Rio de Janeiro, blamed the government for failing to keep its people informed about the virus.

Luciano Ferraz, a hairdresser from Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, said he didn't know about the new variant of the virus, adding that no one was talking about it on the radio.

She said: 'About a new variant, I don't know what to say because I haven't been given this information.

She said: 'This lack of clarity or information from our government has made people comfortable with the virus.

Delisandra Britto, 43, a shop keeper in Porto Alegre, was one of the few who said she had heard of the new variant, but said that not enough was being done to warn people about the dangers.

Alex Countinho, 41, a porter from Rio de Janeiro, said: 'I speak to people all day, and no-one has ever talked to me about a new strain of the virus'.

Alex Countinho, 41, a porter from Rio de Janeiro, said: 'I speak to people all day, and no-one has ever talked to me about a new strain of the virus.

'If the virus is going to get more contagious then many more people are going to lose their lives, and those who survive are going to suffer even more.

Delisandra Britto, 43, a shop keeper in Porto Alegre, was one of the few who said she had heard of the new variant, but said that not enough was being done to warn people about the dangers.

'Most people don't know about the new variant.

Why should we care? The variant has the same spike protein mutation as the highly transmissible versions found in Kent and South Africa – named N501Y – which makes the spike better able to bind to receptors inside the body.

The N501Y mutation makes the spike protein better at binding to receptors in people's bodies and therefore makes the virus more infectious. .

Another key mutation in the variant, named E484K, is also on the spike protein and is present in the South African variant. .

E484K may be associated with an ability to evade parts of the immune system called antibodies, researchers from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro said in a scientific paper published online.

The main and most concerning change to this version of the virus is its N501Y mutation.

And, as the South African variant carries another of the major mutations on the Brazilian strain (E484K) and the Pfizer jab worked against that, too, it is likely that the new mutation would not affect vaccines. .

Now the emergence of a new mutation of the virus, believed to have originated in the northern jungle state of Amazonas, threatens to overwhelm the country once more and lead to many more deaths

He said he believed the new mutation 'partly explains the explosion of cases here in Amazonas, where Covid is rampaging through both the populous capital and remote jungle towns'