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281 samples were analyzed in the laboratory of the Santara Clinics of the Vilnius University Hospital (VUL SK). Of these, 224 cases are assigned to strain B.1.1.7. This variety represents 77% (68/88) from Vilnius, 83% (71/86) from Kaunas, 50% (1/2) from Klaipėda, 86% (6/7) from Alytus, 69% (11/16) from Utena, 84% (37/44) Marijampolė, 67% (2/3) Panevėžys, 75% (6/8) Tauragė, 80% (4/5) Telšiai and 86% (18/21 ) Šiauliai county VUL SK samples tested this week. In addition, 1 new case caused by B.1.351 virus was identified here, assigned to Vilnius county.
24 samples were analyzed in the laboratory of the Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (VU GMC); 10 of them belong to strain B.1.1.7. These cases constitute 8% (1/13) of the last samples examined in Vilnius, 100% (1/1) in Alytus and 80% (8/10) in Utena County VU GMC.
280 samples were analyzed in the reference laboratory of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), of which 216 cases belong to the B.1.1.7 strain. These cases represent 78% (208/268) of the last samples examined by Vilnius, 100% (4/4) by Alytus, 50% (3/6) by Utena and 100% (1/1) by the Telšiai County ECDC. In addition, 1 new case caused by virus B.1.351, assigned to Klaipėda county, was detected in this laboratory.
Furthermore, a new variety was recently discovered in Lithuania: B.1.620.
“Although this strain worries me as much as many of my colleagues, we have no further knowledge about it and cannot say anything more than B.1.620, probably similar to B.1.351 and other strains not yet detected in Lithuania, will be in better conditions to avoid immune response resulting from strain-free strains without the E484K mutation or after vaccination. I want to emphasize that this means a higher probability of getting infected through a new disease or vaccination, but that says nothing about the severity of said infection. Nor can we say anything about the changes in its transmission or the severity of the disease caused by the first disease. We will not have this information for a long time, because so far we are the first country in the world to deliberately combat this variety “, explains genomic epidemiologist Dr. Gytis Dudas.
Currently, 11 cases of this variety have been detected: 3 – in Kaunas and Utena, 2 – in Vilnius and Marijampolė counties, 1 case is still specifying the county.
To date, a total of 4,650 samples have been sequenced and 2,096 cases of B.1.1.7 and 12 B.1.351 viruses have been detected in Lithuania, according to a sequencing project coordinated by the NSPL.
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