El Salvador confirms the circulation of three variants of the covid-19 of “concern”

The Minister of Health of El Salvador, Francisco Alabí, confirmed this Saturday that the variants of “concern” of the covid-19 alpha and gamma circulate in the country, in addition to the delta.

El Salvador confirms the circulation of three variants of the covid-19 of “concern”el Salvador confirms the circulation of three variants of the covid-19 of “concern”

The Minister of Health of El Salvador, Francisco Alabí, confirmed this Saturday that the variants of “concern” of the covid-19 alpha and gamma circulate in the country, in addition to the delta.

Alabí pointed out that the Health portfolio sent 100 samples to a laboratory in Panama, the study of which revealed the circulation of these virus variants.

“There are three of the variants of concern and we Salvadorans must redouble their efforts and biosafety protocols to the maximum,” the official told the press.

He indicated that the presence in El Salvador of the variant “of interest” lambda, which could become a variant of “concern”, was also determined.

On July 31, Alabí had confirmed the circulation of the delta variant.

The detection of these variants occurs when the rise in daily COVID-19 infections, which began last June, continues in the first days of August, according to official data.

According to the records of the government site covid19.gob.sv, between August 1 and 4, the number of daily official cases was up to 297, data similar to those registered last January.

The figures of the aforementioned site account for the rise in daily reports of infections, which went from 134 cases, on June 1, to 291 on August 4.

El Salvador registers 88,371 confirmed cases of covid-19, of which 2,703 died, without the authorities having indicated the number that corresponds to the delta variant.

The country has inoculated 4,664,353 doses of vaccines against covid-19, with which 1,630,122 have completed their two-dose schedule.