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“On April 9, our department received information that cases of coronavirus with E484 mutation had been identified in Anykščiai district. Specifically, what kind of virus strain, we still do not have information, to our knowledge, this strain does not yet have a name, it is so unusual in Lithuania, ”said the head of the NVSC unit.
“Currently, we have 35 such cases in which this mutation has been identified. We have eight active shoots in Anykščiai, they are not big. Of those eight, four are related to cases of mutated viruses, “he said.
We currently have 35 cases of this type in which this mutation has been identified.
According to her, it has not yet been noticed that people infected with this variety become ill more seriously. About a third of those infected have already recovered. Many people infected with this strain do not experience any symptoms, including some vaccinated people.
The E484 virus mutation may be associated with increased resistance of the strain to the vaccine.
“Some people are hospitalized as usual for this disease. We are not yet seeing a special and faster spread, ”said B. Sapkauskienė.
“Until now, we really don’t realize that people get sick or end up being very sad when people get infected with this strain. We also have very little data, because there really aren’t that many cases,” said a representative from NVSC.
The first case of this strain was found in a person who received a positive result for coronavirus on March 23. As of early April, four cases had been identified, followed by nine more.
Launch of a large-scale investigation
According to her, the NVSC has started an in-depth epidemiological investigation into these cases, last Monday the Anykščiai Municipality Emergency Commission met.
“Large-scale testing of people has started in Anykščiai district: in collectives, especially where outbreaks of the COVID-19 disease and also isolated cases have been identified,” said B. Sapkauskienė.
In these studies, repeated studies of some people have found new cases of the mutated strain. Only on Tuesday was information received on five cases.
“To date, the number of cases is gradually increasing to 35,” said the head of the NVSC unit.
Currently, the NVSC and the municipality are paying more attention to the Anykščiai district, actively investigating collectives and mainly conducting epidemiological investigations. So far, a decrease in cases associated with this mutation has been observed.
The BNS National Public Health Laboratory, which coordinates the sequencing research in Lithuania, reported that several varieties are found in Lithuania, but in most cases there is no reason to suspect that their epidemiological behavior differs significantly from others.
So far, two endangered varieties have been discovered in Lithuania: 1,646 cases of the British variety and 10 cases of the South African variety.
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