16th June, 2020
Panama has uncovered a new type of virus, ”A2 PAN” which is believed to cause Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Central America country has been exposed to eight lineages of the virus from the United States, Europe and Asia.
Due to the geographical location of Panama, the country is a hub for several varieties of the virus coming from several regions.
Researchers with the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Panama (ICGES), announced that a new type of virus that causes COVID-19 has been discovered in Panama.
According to them, this particular virus named A2 PAN is only peculiar to Panama.
Juan Miguel Pascale, the director of ICGES, said that 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.However, due to the lockdown, the local virus type has been prevented from spreading to other countries.
Having registered over 20,000 COVID-19 cases and 437 deaths, Panama’s borders are still closed.