NPR

Why Scientists Are Very Worried About The Variant From Brazil

They don't yet understand why the coronavirus variant called P.1, has spread so explosively there. Its set of mutations seem especially dangerous. And this week P.1 was confirmed in the U.S.
Indigenous healthcare workers wearing PPE treat patients at the Indian campaign hospital set up in the Parque das Tribos neighborhood of Manaus, Brazil, on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. Severe oxygen shortages at hospitals in Brazil's Amazon prompted local authorities to impose a curfew and airlift patients to other states to deal with the onslaught of a second coronavirus wave.

New coronavirus variants seem to be cropping up everywhere. There's one from the U.K., which is more contagious and already circulating in the U.S. There's one from South Africa, which is forcing Moderna and Pfizer to reformulate their COVID-19 vaccines and create "booster" shots, just to make sure the vaccines maintain their efficacies.

But for some scientists, the most worrying variant might be the newest one. A variant called P.1, which emerged in Manaus, Brazil in early December and

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