Researchers with the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Panama (ICGES), cited by La Estrella De Panama, announced that a new type of virus that causes COVID-19 has been discovered in Panama - one said to be typical for the country. The new kind of virus was named A2 PAN.
According to Juan Miguel Pascale, director of ICGES, the novel virus has mutated from eight other types of virus from different regions of the world.
“The modifications in the variants of the virus gave rise to a new lineage, which is typical of the country, the A2 PAN,” he said during a webinar for the faculty of medicine at the University of Panama.
Since Panama is a significant regional transportation hub, it has been exposed to several different viruses - four from the United States, three from Europe and one from Asia, where the outbreak originated, according to Pascale. However, due to the lockdown, the local virus type has been prevented from spreading to other countries.
Panama's borders are still closed in order to slow the spread of COVID-19, having registered over 20,000 cases and 437 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Originated in December 2019 in China, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11 March.
