08:54 | Lima, Jan. 9. What has been found is that this variant increases the contagion (capacity) between 40 and 70%. That means if SARS-CoV-2 is already highly contagious, now this variant can cause contagions to occur much faster and to a greater amount of people. If one (person) used to infect 2 or 3 people, starting now these will be 5, 6, or 7 people, he indicated.
According to Dr. Suarez, viruses undergo mutations in all epidemics, and that happens with the influenza virus.
The expert added that there are four characteristics observed in viruses: infectivity (that is, of all those who have been exposed to it, how many become infected); pathogenicity (of all those who are infected, how many become ill), virulence (of all those who get sick, how many become serious cases); and lethality (of all those seriously ill, how many die).