Italy detected the first case of contamination with a new strain of the coronavirus on Sunday, first identified in the United Kingdom and suspected of being more contagious.
In a press release released in the evening, the Ministry of Health specifies that a patient contaminated with this new strain has been identified at the Celio military hospital in Rome.
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This hospital has demonstrated "the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus originating from a subject who tested positive for the variant (of the Covid-19 virus, editor's note) encountered in recent weeks in Great Britain", indicates the communicated.
WHO calls for strengthening controls
The patient had recently returned from Great Britain by plane and he and his relatives are in isolation, the same source said.
Earlier today, Italy announced the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom.
“The United Kingdom has launched an alert regarding a new form of Covid which is the result of a mutation of the virus.
As a government, we have a duty to protect the Italians and, for this reason […], we will sign, with the Minister of Health, a decree to suspend flights with Great Britain ”, had written in the morning Luigi Di Maio, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on his Facebook account.
This new strain of the coronavirus, which could be up to 70% more contagious than other strains seen so far has also been detected outside British territory, in Denmark (9), as well as a case in the Netherlands and Australia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
For this reason, the WHO calls on its members in Europe on Sunday to "strengthen their controls"
