Very contagious COVID strain unknowingly spreads in 15 countries – study

A new study has found that a previously unmarked strain of the coronavirus spread unconsciously for months in 15 countries, including the United States, according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Emerging infectious diseases.
Included in the collaboration of the study are: WHO Collaborating Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Health Data Discovery Laboratory, Hong Kong; University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Researchers have discovered that the variant first appeared in the UK in December 2020 and later spread to the US, Ireland, France, Greece, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Romania, Poland, Turkey, Cyprus, Portugal and India. .
“By the time we learned of the British variant in December, it had quietly spread around the world,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the COVID-19 Modeling Consortium at the University of Texas at Austin, and ‘ a professor of integrative biology said. , in a statement to UT News.

“We estimate that the B117 variant probably arrived in the US by October 2020, two months before we knew it existed,” she added.

Regarding the impact of the study, Meyers said that “This study highlights the importance of laboratory monitoring.”

“Rapid and extensive sequencing of virus samples is critical for the early detection and detection of new variants,” she noted.

Along with the article, the consortium has also developed a tool for genetic sequencing that can further detect other coronavirus variants, which will help to monitor.

“Health officials are looking for better ways to manage the unpredictability of this virus and future variants,” Spencer Woody, a postdoctoral fellow at the UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, told UT News. “Our new calculator determines how many positive SARS-CoV-2 samples should be set up to ensure that new threats are identified as soon as they start spreading.”

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