The British strain already accounts for 20% of coronavirus cases in Asturias | BE Gijón | Today for Today Gijón

The incidence of this variant was precisely one of the issues addressed this Thursday in the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, when a growth “of the percentage of cases that already correspond to the British strain” in Spain was verified, according to affirmed the Minister of Health, Pablo Fernández Muñiz. Health authorities estimate that by mid-March it may already be the predominant variant in Spain, although some epidemiologists advance the date and place it at end of February.

Given the importance of monitoring this situation, the Ministry of Health prepared on January 22 a framework document for the integration of genomic sequencing in the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. In the case of the Principality, the HUCA Virology Laboratory, integrated into the national network of equipment with sequencing capacity, has retrospectively analyzed samples from previous months; specifically, from October onwards. These analyzes have managed to detect the variant in samples corresponding to the end of December. The virologists of the HUCA have developed a technique that allows finding the mutation in less than an hour.

Salud highlights the importance of early detection of the circulation of this variant through genomic sequencing in target groups and determining the incidence of cases in the population. So far, 27,200 cases of this variant have been identified in 64 countries. In addition to the UK, there has been a very rapid increase in cases in Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In the second week of January, England estimated that 76% of the total sequences detected corresponded to this variant.

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