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The new cases in Spain were known a few hours after France confirmed the first case in that country of the new variant of the virus.
The French Health Minister said the person was a French citizen in the central town of Tours who had arrived from London on December 19.
The minister added that the patient was asymptomatic and is in voluntary isolation at home. It was confirmed that the man underwent a test at a hospital on December 21 and was feeling fine.
France closed its borders but lifted the veto on Wednesday on the condition that people test negative for the virus before traveling.
Thousands of transporters had to spend Christmas inside their trucks in southern England waiting to cross the English Channel.
Other countries have also reported cases of the new variant: on Friday, Japan confirmed five infections in passengers who had arrived from the United Kingdom, while previously cases were reported in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia.
Thousands of transporters had to spend Christmas inside their trucks in southern England waiting to cross the English Channel. Photo: Getty.
Last week, France lifted its national lockdown, but the government said the infection rate had not dropped enough to ease measures further.
That means that theaters and cinemas, bars and restaurants remain closed. A curfew from 20:00 to 06:00 it remains in effect. It got up for Christmas Eve, but will continue for the New Year.
France has recorded more than 2.5 million confirmed infections since the start of the outbreak, with more than 62,000 deaths – the seventh total deaths in the world.
The first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was dispatched from Belgium to the central pharmacy of the health system, on the outskirts of Paris this Saturday, according to the AFP agency.
The first vaccines will be applied this Sunday to patients from two nursing homes in Sevran and Dijon.
What is the new variant?
The new variant was first detected in England in September and is responsible for the high levels of positive tests in recent weeks in London, the east and southeast of England.
Approximately two-thirds of the people who tested positive in these areas have the new variantAlthough that’s just an estimate, according to the National Statistics Office.
There are three factors that make the new strain attract attention:
- It is rapidly replacing the other versions of the virus.
- Has mutations that affect probably important parts of the virus
- Some of these mutations have shown in the laboratory an increased ability of the virus to infect cells.
All of these factors lend credence to the case that the new strain may spread faster, says BBC health correspondent James Gallagher.
Ugur Sahin, founder of BioNTech, is confident that vaccines will continue to work against the new strain of the virus found in the United Kingdom. Photo: Getty.
However, there is no evidence that the new variant is more dangerous and newly developed vaccines should remain effective, experts say.
How did the world respond to the crisis of the new variant?
More than 40 countries banned travelers from the UK earlier this month.
Flights from the UK were suspended to territories around the world, including Spain, India and Hong Kong.
Hundreds of people were stranded for hours due to travel restrictions.
Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait went even further, completely closing their borders for a week.
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