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Detecting the coronavirus mutations will cost around 800 expensive tests a month. And how many millions will be needed, officials have yet to reveal.
The rapidly spreading British strain of coronavirus is already in Lithuania, although the number of people infected with it is unclear. Because Lithuania is not yet conducting large-scale genome sequencing studies due to limited funding, which makes it possible to identify the mutated virus and prevent its spread beyond sight.
So far, a case of the British strain of coronavirus has been officially identified in Lithuania. This variety was established for a Vilnius woman who was infected from a family member, none of them supposedly abroad. According to immunologist Aurelia Žvirblienė, it is realistic that the virus has spread in Lithuania since December.
“It may be that these varieties have arrived earlier because they have been seen in the UK since September and our borders have not been closed. This would show that, in fact, this variety may already be very widespread in Lithuania, ”he says.
Lithuanian chief epidemiologist Loreta Ašoklienė does not rule out that the British strain of coronavirus may have entered Lithuania and began to spread in November. As a result, it is very likely that there are many more cases of this British variety in Lithuania.
Rasa Ugenskienė, director of the Genetic and Molecular Medicine Clinic of the Kaunas Clinics, has no doubt that this strain of the virus has been living among people for some time.
“If a person has not been in such direct contact with those who come from abroad, it is likely that there is a virus around because it may have been infected by people who do not have symptoms,” says the specialist.
And especially before the holidays, the pre-holiday ghost may have also contributed to this spread, when compatriots ran en masse into stores, looking for Christmas gifts, and visited beauty salons and barber shops.
At that time, the number of new coronavirus cases increased at the end of December: three or even 4 thousand positive tests were recorded every day. It is true if such figures are related to the British variety, it is difficult to say, because COVID-19 sequencing studies in Lithuania are extremely slow. The Life Sciences Center, which received no state funding, conducted genome sequencing studies on its own initiative; so far only 50 samples have been analyzed.
In Kaunas, the Lithuanian Center for Health Sciences examined several hundred samples and at that time no mutations were detected. And the scientists, while not wanting to predict a pessimistic scenario for Lithuania, recall that the British strain is spreading one and a half times faster than the usual coronavirus.
“This mutation can cause an even bigger spike and an even bigger ripple just because it spreads so much faster. And that means that it would require many more deaths than a simple spread, but a more deadly variant of the virus, ”explains virologist Miglė Gabrielaitė.
It is estimated that a genomic sequence study costs about 100 euros on average. And in a month, such research can cost around a million. When the British strain of coronavirus arrives in our country, the Ministry of Health promises that Lithuania will soon carry out large-scale coronavirus genome sequencing studies, which will be funded by the state, and the support of the European Union will be requested.
“There will be 200 cases per week, which will be a series of 800 examinations per month,” says Asta Riukienė, advisor to the Minister of Health.
After receiving additional funding from the state, four institutions will study research on virus mutations and their changes: the Santara Clinic, the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, the Kaunas Clinic of the Kaunas University of Health Sciences and the Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University.
“Now it is planned to analyze about one percent of all positive virus samples and this is a sufficient amount for us to know the real situation”, is convinced A. Žvirblienė.
And here, R. Ugenskienė states that by mobilizing people in the laboratory, it would be possible to examine about 100 people per week.
Following the information about a British strain of coronavirus, the government announced a quarantine and a quarantine on the same day. Vaidotas Zemlys-Balevičius, a member of the expert group, assures that in those countries where the virus strain is spreading rapidly, no one thinks of opening it, so it is necessary to get out of quarantine easily.
“Let’s open for two weeks, have a good beer in the cafes, let’s cut back and go back to that quarantine, because people’s lives still need to be protected. These are sad risks that must be addressed, ”says Vaidotas Zemlys-Balevičius, Euromonitor’s data researcher.
It is true that if the British strain of coronavirus leads to higher mortality, researchers do not yet have such data. And the biggest threat is the faster spread of the virus, because with more sick people, hospitals are also full of seriously ill patients.
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