MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Covid-19: Pirola strain detected in Argentina

The case of Pirola in Argentina was detected in the Southern Province of Santa Cruz

Argentine health authorities Tuesday confirmed the first case of the JN.1 strain of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, also known as Pirola, which has been labeled a variant of interest (VOI) by the World Health Organization (WHO) last week.

The detection took place in the southern province of Santa Cruz “through genomic surveillance carried out by the Federal Network of Genomics and Bioinformatics,” it was explained.

“The Federal Network of Genomics and Bioinformatics has sequencing nodes distributed in the different jurisdictions of the country with the capacity to detect new variants of the virus, contributing collaboratively to generate genomic information for decision making in health,” a Ministry statement read.

In Argentina, the current situation of Covid-19 “is characterized by an exclusive circulation of the Omicron variant” of which “there is a predominance of the XBB variant, EG.5 and some detections of BQ.1,” the document went on.

Meanwhile, Paraguay's Health Ministry admitted the EG.5 (“Eris”) variant was spreading in the country. It has also been reported to be present in Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.

Eris has led to an increase in the number of infections in Paraguay, particularly in places such as Asunción and Villarrica del Espíritu Santo, where 562 confirmed cases between Dec. 10 and 16 represented an increase of more than 93% from the previous week's 290. In addition to 45 new hospitalizations, an unvaccinated female patient was reported to have died of the malady.

According to updated data from the health ministry, Paraguay has registered a total of 822,337 confirmed cases and 20,065 deaths due to Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

In Bolivia, a 74% increase in infections was reported nationwide while the symptoms of Covid-19 began to vary over time, according to Deputy Minister of Epidemiological Surveillance Max Enriquez. “The characteristics are differing a lot from the classic presentation of the disease, that is why many are not taking it into account and are considering it as if it were a cold,” he said. Among the new symptoms are hoarseness; a little fever; gastric problems, such as diarrhea; back pain, and others, he explained.

“In Cochabamba -where cases have soared last week- they have started to take samples from many people” because there might be an “underreporting of cases.”