Several European nations including France, Germany, Sweden and Spain have reported first cases of new variant of Coronavirus (COVID-19), which was recently discovered in the United Kingdom (U.K.).
Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland have also reported cases of the new variant. Countries outside Europe like Japan, Singapore and Lebanon have also reported cases of this new variant which is believed to be more deadly and easily communicable.
This new variant is referred by scientists as B.1.1.7 lineage. More than 50 countries have imposed travel restrictions on U.K.
The infections across Europe are linked to people who had recently come from U.K. In Spain, 4 people have been identified with new variant of the COVID-19. Spain had already suspended the entries from U.K. These cases belong to Spanish people who were stuck in U.K. Of this, 3 are relatives of a man who flew from U.K. The fourth person had also travelled to U.K.
Spanish Government is expected to receive 4.5 million doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech over the next 12 weeks, enough to vaccinate some 2.2 million people.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief of Health for Spain – Antonio Zapatero said, “The patients are not seriously ill, we know that this strain is more transmissible, but it does not cause more serious illness.”
Taking it to twitter, Antonio tweeted (translated from Spanish), “Today we have confirmed in @ComunidadMadrid the first 4 cases of infection x the mutation #COVID from the UK, it does not seem to be more serious. Peace of mind. Thank you for the great work of the microbiology services x their help.” (Original tweet in Spanish: Hoy hemos confirmado en @ComunidadMadrid los primeros 4 casos de infección x la mutación #COVID del Reino Unido, no parece que produzca mayor gravedad. Tranquilidad. Agradecer el gran trabajo de los servicios de microbiología x su ayuda)
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”es” dir=”ltr”>Hoy hemos confirmado en <a href=”https://twitter.com/ComunidadMadrid?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@ComunidadMadrid</a> los primeros 4 casos de infección x la mutación <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID</a> del Reino Unido, no parece que produzca mayor gravedad.Tranquilidad.Agradecer el gran trabajo de los servicios de microbiología x su ayuda <a href=”https://t.co/q3wGdoTzsm”>https://t.co/q3wGdoTzsm</a></p>— AntonioZapatero (@ZapateroAntonio) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ZapateroAntonio/status/1342864730533339137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>December 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
A person who returned from U.K. to France had tested positive. He had no symptoms and was isolating in his home in the central city of Tours. The authorities have carried out contact-tracing for the health professionals taking care of the patient. Similarly, the Italian health authorities have also found the new strain in a person in Rome. Switzerland has identified 3 cases, 2 of which are known to be British citizens currently in the country.
Talking about cases travelling beyond Europe, Japan confirmed 5 infections in passengers who had all arrived from the U.K.
This new variant is blamed for sharp rises in levels of positive tests in recent weeks in London, South-East England and the East of England. According to the estimates of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), about 2/3rd of people testing positive in these areas could have the new variant.
In total, 3 new variants of COVID-19 have been detected in recent weeks. The other 2 have been discovered in South Africa and Nigeria.
The variant discovered in South Africa is known as 501.V2. It is more infectious than the original virus and could be responsible for driving the country’s current resurgence of the disease. The variant found in Nigeria is known as P681H. It is of a separate lineage from the other mutations. This variant does not seem to be spreading as fast as the other two new variants.
