New Coronavirus Strain Spreading Rapidly Across Europe, Study Shows

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – European scientists have detected a new strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, which has been rapidly spreading across Europe since June and is now the cause of most of the cases observed in the second wave of infections in some countries on the continent.

A study by researchers from the Universities of Basel (Switzerland) and Valencia (Spain) and released on Wednesday, October 28th, on the MedRxiv platform, shows that the strain was originally identified in June in the Iberian country, and in the following month it represented 40 percent of all cases in Spain. Currently, it is responsible for 80 percent of records in Spanish territory. The spread may have started at a farmers’ event in northeastern Spain. In other European countries, the new strain, christened 20A.EU1 , accounted for between 40 and 70 percent of all newly recorded infections in Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom in September. It was also dominant in Norway, the Netherlands, France, and Latvia. The new virus sequence has already been identified in 12 European nations, in addition to Hong Kong and New Zealand.

The researchers point out that “it is unclear if this strain is spreading due to an advantage of virus transmission or if the high incidence in Spain followed by its spread by tourists is enough to explain the rapid increase in several countries,” the authors highlight in the article.

The scientists alert that, although there are still no details about a greater risk associated with this strain, assessing the level of control and containment measures of the pathogen in borders to stop a new spread of Covid is warranted. They believe that the spread of the virus is associated with the relaxation of social distancing measures and visitor entry control. “Although there is no evidence that this strain is more dangerous, its spread may provide information on the effectiveness of travel policies adopted by European countries during the summer,” says a statement from Basel University about the study.

Repercussion

Microbiologist Natalia Pasternak, researcher of the University of São Paulo’s (USP) Institute of Biomedical Sciences and president of the ‘Questão de Ciência’ Institute, states that the research confirms the need to monitor potential mutations of the novel coronavirus, but stresses that there are still more loopholes than answers regarding the action of different strains. “To be sure that it is more transmissible or that it has any clinical impact, more detailed studies would be required. For now, what the work shows, and very well so, is the need for a monitoring and sequencing system to track the evolution of the virus. But there is yet no way to determine if the mutations observed are related to higher transmission or to symptoms,” she says.

According to infectologist Celso Granato, professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) and medical director of the Fleury Group, the study data still do not allow to determine whether or not the predominance of a new strain in some countries may affect the diagnosis, treatment or even the vaccines currently under development against the disease.

“It’s an important alert, but we still don’t have those answers. It may be that this strain is responsible for the rapid increase in cases seen now, but it may be more of an epidemiological issue,” he says, referring to the possibility that the virus is spreading faster because of the end of quarantines in most countries during the European summer.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo