The new strain of Coronavirus, first identified in Britain in December, has been detected in Greece and Cyprus, officials from the two Health Ministries have said.
Following the instructions of the European Centre for Infection Prevention and Control (ECDC), Cyprus’ Health Ministry proceeded to a specialised screening of samples from individuals who had arrived from the UK from the day the country announced the new mutation and two weeks before that, and who had been diagnosed with the virus.
The specialised screening found that out of the 19 samples examined from the two-weeks period, 12 of them had the new strain. Similarly, A Greek Health Ministry official on Sunday told Reuters that four cases have been detected in four passengers who arrived in the country from the UK over the Christmas break. The cases are the first of the fast-spreading coronavirus mutation to be found in the country.
While dozens of countries have banned entry to arrivals from the UK, Greece accepts flights from the country, but passengers must provide a negative PCR test result, conducted within 72 hours before arrival, and take another rapid test upon arrival. If the result is negative, they will need to self-isolate for 10 days and then take another PCR test to exit quarantine.
Passengers travelling from the UK to Cyprus are also getting tested upon arrival after which they are transferred to local hotels, where they will need to quarantine for seven days. On the last day, they get another COVID test and should the result be negative, they are allowed to leave but also required to remain in self-isolation for another three days.
A study by the Imperial College found that the new COVID variant is more transmissible than the original variant of the virus first identified in China a year ago, as it increases the Reproduction or R number by between 0.4 and 0.7.
