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It was at the press conference of the General Directorate of Health, which took place in the early hours of Tuesday afternoon, that João Paulo Gomes, from the National Institute Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA), responsible for the Portuguese study of SARS genomic sequencing -CoV -2, said the new virus strain is only in circulation in Madeira.
Thus, the researcher concludes that the information advanced yesterday by the President of the Regional Government, that one of the 18 cases of Covid-19 associated with the new strain originating in the United Kingdom detected in Madeira would originate in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley ” it is not confirmed ”.
As for the circulation of the new variant in the capital, we still do not have the information that this will happen. Despite the existence of a case associated with Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, this information is not confirmed.
João Paulo Gomes, researcher at INSA
The 21 samples, referring to 18 cases of the new strain, “refer to Portuguese citizens and some foreigners”, all associated with harvests carried out in Madeira, which were the only ones, so far, analyzed by INSA.
The work that is now being developed with samples taken at Lisbon and Porto airports, as well as in the community, may reveal the existence of this new strain in some regions of the Portuguese peninsula, which, for the moment, is not yet known .
João Paulo Gomes also said that for a case to be considered suspicious of the new strain, it is not enough to have a travel history to the UK. “The biggest suspicion we have is that the diagnostic kit is missing one of the targets.” The confirmation of the virus strain in question is known once the result of the genome sequencing has been verified, being necessary about 4 days after the samples enter the INSA.
In response to questions posed by journalists, the researcher was not surprised that this new strain was identified on the continent, in line with what was said by the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, referring that Portugal is the second country, for now . , with more cases of this variant of the virus, just after the UK.
It will not surprise me, of course, that the variant is already circulating on the continent as well, because I can tell you that regardless of the reports that have emerged, from several dozen countries that have already detected the variant, I am basically based, on the data tested. And when we go to the public databases, where the sequences of the genomes already sequenced with viruses that correspond to this variant are deposited, there are actually 15 countries. The United Kingdom in first place, with around 4,200 sequences, and Portugal comes in second. Although we only have these 18, we are already second ”.
João Paulo Gomes, researcher at INSA
To this, he added, the fact that Madeira is a privileged holiday destination for the English, as well as the large number of Portuguese emigrants who are linked to the ‘lands of her majesty.
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