P1 COVID-19 variant more transmissible, may evade cross-immunityThe P1 SARS-CoV-2 variant, which was first identified in Brazil, may be more than twice as transmissible as non-P.1 lineages, and it may lower protective immunity from non-P1 variants 21% to 46%, according to a study published yesterday in Science.From November 2020 to January 2021, the researchers conducted genomic sequencing on 184 COVID-19 samples collected from the city of Manaus in Brazil's Amazonas state, which has experienced two major COVID-19 surges.
Phylogenetic analysis showed that P1 and another lineage, P2, were descendants of lineage B1128, and that P1 probably diverged around Nov 15 after a period of faster molecular evolution.