Journal of medical virology
-
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic spread rapidly and this scenario is concerning in South America, mainly in Brazil with more than seven million cases of infection. Three major pandemic lineages/clades could be identified along with SARS-CoV-2 dissemination (G, GR, and GH) in the Americas. These clades differ according to their genomic characteristics, virulence, and spreading times. ⋯ The phylodynamic analysis indicated that all these main lineages increased viral spreading from February to early March and after an evolutionary stationary phase was observed. The decrease observed in the virus dissemination was directly associated to the reduction of social movement after March. In conclusion, these data demonstrated the current predominance of clades G, GR, and GH in South America because of the early dissemination of them in the first pandemic phase in South America.