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In Italy, a patient infected with the new strain of coronavirus was detected in Great Britain.
The Italian health minister confirmed the information on Sunday, Reuters reports.
The patient arrived “in the last days” together with his partner, entering Italy through the Rome Fiumicino airport, the Italian ministry also states, adding that he and his 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 the new strain of 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 each in the Netherlands and Australia. “Several other countries have informed the WHO about other variants that include some of the genetic changes in the British variant,” said a mutation called “N501Y,” the WHO said.
South Africa also reported a mutant version of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus on Friday.
