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ARCHIVED - First case of British Covid variant found in the Region of Murcia
The 25 year old patient had travelled to the Region of Murcia for the festive period
The Murcian regional health authority confirmed on Friday that the first case of the so-called “British variant“ (SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant) of the Covid-19 virus has been detected in the region.
The patient is a 25-year old who “normally resides in the UK and had travelled to Murcia for the Christmas period”, presumably to visit family members.
When the individual concerned developed Covid symptoms, was tested here in the Region of Murcia, and the health authority ascertained that the patient concerned habitually lived in the UK and had come to Spain for the Christmas period, the test was sent to the Microbiology service of La Arrixaca at the Majadahonda National Microbiology Center, in Madrid, which has confirmed that it is the “British strain”.
The close contacts of the individual concerned have also been tested and seven tests have been sent to the centre in Madrid. Two of these have been returned, and one is positive, the other negative.
At least 60 cases of this new strain have already been detected across Spain and there are many more samples under study, the Ministry of Health reported on Thursday. Until now, cases linked to this strain, B.1.1.7, have been detected in Madrid, Cantabria, the Basque Country, the Valencian Community, Galicia, Andalusia, Asturias, and now the Region of Murcia. Both the Canary islands and Extremadura have sent samples of suspected cases to Madrid for analysis.
One of the biggest problems facing the Spanish authorities at the moment is that there are hundreds more possible cases which have been sent to the labs for checking, but the problem currently faced is a lack of facilities in which to undertake genomic sequencing of the virus, something that is not possible to carry out in every part of the country.
Samples are being sent to the Majadahonda National Microbiology Center, in Madrid for analysis, but this is delaying the capacity of the authorities to react quickly and decisively when it is suspected that a case may be related to this new variant.
The Canary Islands for example, has two suspect cases in la Palma, but is waiting to receive the necessary reagents to carry out the sequencing process, and the same problem exists in other parts of the country.
Most of the cases reported to date have been related to British nationals returning to Spain from a visit to the UK, and in some cases had supplied a negative PCR test before flying. Very few of the cases are secondary infections, although as we know all too well by now, the individuals now returning positive tests have been freely circulating amongst the community usually for several days, before becoming ill.
It is known that this variant is highly contagious and spreads more rapidly than the variants currently in circulation and this variant is the reason that the UK is currently reporting record levels of new cases (and more than 1100 deaths yesterday) and has been put back down into lockdown.
Many British nationals living in the region will be very frustrated to hear this news, as many have been self-isolating, have taken the decision to cancel pre-booked flights back to the UK themselves, have stopped family members from visiting this festive season and taken every possible measure to be responsible and not risk catching the virus or spreading it to others.
There have been many frustrated comments on social media recently about the number of British nationals who are not habitual residents and have driven across to second homes in Spain in order to avoid having to take a PCR test. Certainly before the French lockdown just before Christmas, some readers reported a significant increase in the number of UK registered vehicles present on their urbanisations due to the fact that British residents were able to freely drive down to Spain without having to supply a PCR test.
There was also considerable frustration on some urbanisations that second home owners were able to fly to Spain and go to holiday properties without being stopped by police, as providing they flew into an airport, they were landing in the Schengen zone and the Spanish authorities had no power to stop them landing in a region and driving to a holiday property inside that region.
Once in Spain, they have been obliged to comply with the border regulations in place within their particular region, but have not been prevented from entering, angering residents who are not allowed to drive across the local border of their own municipality to shop or visit their own family and friends, yet see people flying in from the UK to go to a holiday property.
Right across Spain, regional borders have been closed for weeks, expressly to prevent un-necessary travel and the Spanish and regional governments have repeatedly requested that the public refrain from non-essential travel.
Now that the UK has imposed a full travel ban until the middle of February, and the UK Brexit has enabled the Spanish authorities to prevent non-residents entering the country, it is hoped that the new variant can be contained and prevented from spreading across Spain as it has done in the UK.
As we don´t yet know where this case has been detected, and what level of contact the individual concerned and those who were being visited have had with other local friends and neighbours, a little extra caution by those who are particularly vulnerable would be advisable given the highly contagious nature of this variant.
British variant; Please note, the name "British variant" or "Cepa Británica" as it is being referred to throughout the Spanish media, and indeed world media, is not "Brit bashing" as some social media users are claiming, it is simply an easy means of categorising this strain, or variant. During the summer the "Spanish variant" was blamed for a number of outbreaks across Europe and is believed to have spread from holidaymakers in Spain, the "South African variant" is another variant found in South Africa, it is simply easier for the everyone to use than the correct name, the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant and is the term being used in ALL of the Spansih media.
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