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In Italy, a first case of infection with the new strain of coronavirus discovered in Great Britain was confirmed, announced this Sunday the Ministry of Health in Rome, reports Agerpres.
The patient arrived in the country “in recent days”, along with his partner, entering Italy through the Fiumicino airport in Rome, the Italian ministry says, adding that the two and their contacts are isolated.
The Italian government decided on Sunday to suspend air links with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, test all newcomers to the country and bar entry to Italy to non-residents who have traveled to the United Kingdom in the last two weeks.
According to experts, there is no indication that this mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is more lethal than the previous ones, but it is more contagious.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) did not rule out on Sunday the possibility that this new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is already circulating outside the UK and called on EU member states to take swift action, in particular to quickly identify and isolate people from affected areas and their contacts, and intensify testing.
According to the ECDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), several cases of infection with the new strain have already been confirmed outside the UK, respectively. nine cases in Denmark and one in the Netherlands and in Australia. “Several other countries have informed the WHO about other variants that include some of the genetic changes of the British variant,” in particular a mutation called N501Y, says the WHO.
South Africa; which in turn reported a problematic variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus on Friday, also considers that the N501Y mutation is at the origin of the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, with several investigations underway.
EU emergency meeting
In this context, the German Presidency of the EU Council convened an emergency meeting of the member states on Monday morning, based on the EU’s Integrated Political Crisis Response Mechanism (IPCR). This mechanism aims to make swift and coordinated decisions at the EU level in the event of major and complex crises.
In preparation for this meeting, the cabinet of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, convened a video conference on technical issues on Sunday. At that meeting, representatives of the member states exchanged information on the measures they intend to take in the coming hours, such as the ban on flights from the United Kingdom or new test measures, said a community spokesman.
Several EU member states, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Germany, Bulgaria and Romania, announced on Sunday the suspension of air links to and from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Belgium has also suspended rail links with British territory.
