April 23, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Penetration of the Indian strain into Europe

The European Union fears that a new strain of coronavirus from India will infiltrate Europe. The first cases have already been recorded. The WHO European Office reports that the “Indian” strain has already been found in more than ten European countries.

Greek health authorities sound the alarm over the discovery of the second case of a mutation of the Indian coronavirus strain, this time in Athens… The case concerns a Greek citizen who is being watched by experts while his contacts are being traced.

An Indian strain of coronavirus was found in three crew members moored in the Spanish port of Vigo, officials from a local hospital officially reported. The authorities are urging the population not to panic as the sailors are isolated. Nevertheless, experts warn that, sooner or later, a new variant of covid will surely penetrate Europe.

The Italian media has also reported cases of the Indian coronavirus. The infection was detected in immigrants from India, who recently settled in a small town a hundred kilometers from Rome. Now the settlement is in quarantine, it has been declared a high-risk zone. One of their residents says:

Now this area can only be left for a valid reason, for example, for work or if you need to buy groceries. This is a vital necessity and no one is being detained because of this. After all, people living here experience hunger just like everyone else.

In order to prevent the spread of the new strain, the city authorities plan to conduct mass testing of the population. However, they fear that some residents will be able to evade it, as they entered on tourist visas to work for local farmers – they are unlikely to want to advertise their illegal stay in the country.

Greek health authorities sound the alarm over the discovery of the second case of a mutation of the Indian coronavirus strain, this time in Athens… The case concerns a Greek citizen who is being watched by experts while his contacts are being traced.

In fact, no one at the moment can absolutely accurately assess the aggressiveness and danger of the Indian strain, it is only being investigated by specialists. The WHO classifies this type of coronavirus as a “variant of interest.” Which means the need for further observation and study of its properties. Although biologist Baranova, professor at the School of Systems Biology at George Mason University, believes the Indian strain is “definitely more infectious than its more standard cousins.” It was first described in October last year. At the same time, scientists did not even imagine how quickly it would spread throughout the country. Already in April of this year, the Indian Genomics Consortium SARS-CoV-2 presented a report on a significant increase in the proportion of E484Q and L452R mutations in the state of Maharashtra compared to December 2020.

The head of the European People’s Party parliamentary group, Manfred Weber, expressed concern about the spread of the Indian strain of coronavirus, noting that a coordinated European approach is relevant:

“News of the development of the coronavirus situation in India is extremely worrying. The Indian mutation seems to be spreading rapidly, and situation it threatens to get out of control there. “





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