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It turned out that 6 samples with the British strain of coronavirus “came” from Vilkaviškis, 4 – from Kaunas and 1 – from Marijampolė.
In total, there are already 12 known cases in the country where people have been infected with the British strain of the virus. The first patient is fine now.
SAM also reports that a total of 284 samples were analyzed this week. Kaunas Clinics has already examined the 96 samples mentioned above, another 188 samples are being analyzed by the reference laboratory of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Results from this foreign laboratory are expected in the near future.
It is recalled that in order to monitor the diversity, prevalence and genomic variation of the COVID-19 strains found in Lithuania, a process of sequencing the coronavirus genome has been initiated at the national level. These tests will be initiated with the help of national laboratories equipped to carry out the tests.
The National Public Health Laboratory (NSAID) is responsible for organizing and coordinating the large-scale coronavirus genome sequencing process.
“The sign is sad and bad”
Mister. Loreta Ašoklienė, the country’s epidemiologist, is concerned that several cases of the British strain COVID-19 have been identified at the same time:
“The mutation had already been detected in Lithuania before, we had a sign that it could be. In fact, 11 cases at a time is a big concern. We will see what the other results will be, because another part of the research sent to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, a designated laboratory, will be a little easier to talk about when we have even more results. The first results are alarming, the sign is sad and bad. “
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Loreta Ašoklienė
The number of infections in recent days has increased again. L. Ašoklienė says it would be very sad if that increase was related to the British variety.
“That could certainly be one of the reasons,” he said. epidemiologist.
He said he could not tell whether the positive results were related people (6 samples with the British coronavirus strain “came” from Vilkaviškis, 4 – from Kaunas and 1 – from Marijampolė). According to the epidemiologist, the selection of subjects was random.
In 11 cases at a time, this is a huge concern.
“It’s hard to tell. It looks like a mutation that hooked a region. We still have very little data. We are at a stage where we examine, see, from where and why. The samples themselves have certain criteria when they are submitted for studies of additional sequencing. That also needs to be evaluated. So far I could not comment specifically. But the dispersion that is not from one place, but from several, is a bad sign, “said L. Ašoklienė.
According to her, the sequencing program is already in full swing – these studies are being conducted both in Lithuania and abroad to increase the scope of sequencing and see how the mutation has spread.
“When we have larger volumes of sequencing research, it will be easier to assess the situation,” said L. Ašoklienė.
A few days ago, it was announced that cases of the British variety had been detected in Latvia, but according to L. Ašoklienė, there were not such a large number of cases at the same time.
Samples with a British strain of coronavirus were obtained last week
The Kaunas Clinical Laboratory received eleven samples of the British strain of coronavirus last week, says Renaldas Jurkevičius, general manager of the hospital.
According to him, most of the 96 samples were received from the National Public Health Laboratory (NSPL), the rest, samples taken in the emergency department of LSMU Kaunas Clinics.
“Last week we received 96 samples, we did the sequencing and in 85 of them we successfully obtained the genome of those 96. Of these 85, a British strain was identified,” R. Jurkevičius told BNS on Wednesday.
“All those cases are not from the Kaunas clinics: six are from the Vilkaviškis Hospital, one from Marijampolė county and four from the Kaunas county mobile points,” he said.
According to him, during the sequencing of the virus, the laboratory does not know the history of the patients, their condition or how the samples were selected.
“We get randomly selected samples from NVSPL, just to reflect that population and know that distribution,” said the director of the Kaunas clinics.
It is true that all the samples that the laboratories had to analyze in this batch were from the Kaunas region.
R. Jurkevičius assured that the Clinics reported on the Vilkaviškis Hospital patients, and NVSPL will have to identify the patients examined at the mobile points, because so far their data is encrypted.
The variety was introduced in the UK last December.
On December 19 last year, UK officials confirmed that a new strain of coronavirus found in the country could spread more rapidly. According to the country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the new strain of the virus could be 70 percent. more contagious.
This strain of the virus has been found to compete with other dominant strains and to become one of the most common in the English region. It is believed to have caused a sharp increase in the number of cases.
As a result, many countries in the European Union, including Lithuania, have temporarily banned the entry of passengers into the United Kingdom.
Later in January, Johnson reported that there was “some evidence” that the new strain of coronavirus was not only more contagious, but also led to higher mortality.
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