Retrospective Insights of the COVID-19 Epidemic in the Major Latin American City, São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil

São Paulo is the financial center of Brazil, with a population of over 12 million, that receives travelers from all over the world for business and tourism. It was the first city in Brazil to report a case of COVID-19 that rapidly spread across the city despite the implementation of the restriction measures. Despite many reports, much is still unknown regarding the genomic diversity and transmission dynamics of this virus in the city of São Paulo. Thus, in this study, we provide a retrospective overview of the COVID-19 epidemic in São Paulo City, Southeastern, Brazil, by generating a total of 9995 near-complete genome sequences from all the city’s different macro-regions (North, West, Central, East, South, and Southeast). Our analysis revealed that multiple independent introduction events of different variants (mainly Gamma, Delta, and Omicron) occurred throughout time. Additionally, our estimates of viral movement within the different macro-regions further suggested that the East and the Southeast regions were the largest contributors to the Gamma and Delta viral exchanges to other regions. Meanwhile, the North region had a higher contribution to the dispersion of the Omicron variant. Together, our results reinforce the importance of increasing SARS-CoV-2 genomic monitoring within the city and the country to track the real-time evolution of the virus and to detect earlier any eventual emergency of new variants of concern that could undermine the fight against COVID-19 in Brazil and worldwide

Retrospective Insights of the COVID-19 Epidemic in the Major Latin American City, São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil

São Paulo is the financial center of Brazil, with a population of over 12 million, that receives travelers from all over the world for business and tourism. It was the first city in Brazil to report a case of COVID-19 that rapidly spread across the city despite the implementation of the restriction measures. Despite many reports, much is still unknown regarding the genomic diversity and transmission dynamics of this virus in the city of São Paulo. Thus, in this study, we provide a retrospective overview of the COVID-19 epidemic in São Paulo City, Southeastern, Brazil, by generating a total of 9995 near-complete genome sequences from all the city’s different macro-regions (North, West, Central, East, South, and Southeast). Our analysis revealed that multiple independent introduction events of different variants (mainly Gamma, Delta, and Omicron) occurred throughout time. Additionally, our estimates of viral movement within the different macro-regions further suggested that the East and the Southeast regions were the largest contributors to the Gamma and Delta viral exchanges to other regions. Meanwhile, the North region had a higher contribution to the dispersion of the Omicron variant. Together, our results reinforce the importance of increasing SARS-CoV-2 genomic monitoring within the city and the country to track the real-time evolution of the virus and to detect earlier any eventual emergency of new variants of concern that could undermine the fight against COVID-19 in Brazil and worldwide

Genomic epidemiology reveals how restriction measures shaped the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Brazil

Abstract Brazil has experienced some of the highest numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths globally and made Latin America a pandemic epicenter from May 2021. Although SARS-CoV-2 established sustained transmission in Brazil early in the pandemic, important gaps remain in our understanding of local virus transmission dynamics. Here, we describe the genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 using near-full genomes sampled from 27 Brazilian states and an adjacent country - Paraguay. We show that the early stage of the pandemic in Brazil was characterised by the co-circulation of multiple viral lineages, linked to multiple importations predominantly from Europe, and subsequently characterized by large local transmission clusters. As the epidemic progressed, the absence of effective restriction measures led to the local emergence and international spread of Variants of Concern (VOC) and under monitoring (VUM), including the Gamma (P.1) and Zeta (P.2) variants. In addition, we provide a preliminary genomic overview of the epidemic in Paraguay, showing evidence of importation from Brazil. These data reinforce the need for the implementation of widespread genomic surveillance in South America as a toolkit for pandemic monitoring and providing a means to follow the real-time spread of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants with possible implications for public health and immunization strategies