A recent study found that a different type of emerging corona virus that causes Covid-19 disease appeared in the early summer of 2020, and it is assumed that this was in Spain, and has since spread in several European countries.
Although the matter is not entirely certain, Spain is the likely origin of this new form of the Coronavirus that has become prevalent in many European countries, according to researchers in Spain and Switzerland.
The scientific name of the emerging corona virus is "SARS-CoV-2", and what scientists have revealed is a new form of the virus, and it is called "variant of SARS-CoV-2", They called it "20A.EU1" (20A.EU1).
The study was conducted by researchers from Switzerland and Spain, and was published on the Medrxiv website.
The graphic below shows 9 of the most prominent symptoms of Corona virus, and to find out a detailed list of symptoms of Corona infection, click on this link.
When did it first appear?
The researchers said the variable was first observed in Spain in June and has been at rates above 40% since July.
Outside Spain, the recurrence rate for this virus increased from very low rates before July 15 to 40-70% in Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom in September.
The new virus is also circulating in Norway, Latvia, the Netherlands and France.
The researchers wrote, "The spread of early samples in Spain, the diversity of Spanish samples, and the emergence of the group in the Spanish sequences indicate Spain as the potential origin of the cluster of cases."
Sequences here refer to a genome sequence that reveals the sequence of nucleotides in genes, such as the alphabet in words, in a specific virus.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it can reveal a comparison of the nucleotide composition in a single viral gene with the arrangement of nucleotides in a different virus gene for the differences between the two viruses.
As for the term cluster cases, it means - according to the American centers as well - the cases that are collected in a place and time, which are suspected to be greater than the expected number.
This virus differs from its predecessors in 6 or more sites in structure, including the A222V mutation in the spike protein and the A220V mutation in the nucleoprotein.
The researchers explained that the associated epidemiological data from Spain indicates that the new virus variant is related to two known outbreaks in the northeast of the country, and it appears to have spread initially among agricultural workers in Aragon and Catalonia, then moved to the local population, where it was able to move to the Valencia region And to the rest of the country.
The researchers added that it is currently unclear whether this variable is spreading due to the advantage of virus transmission or whether the high rate of infection in Spain and then the spread through tourists is sufficient to explain the rapid rise in multiple countries.
The researchers said that this variable has increased in several countries, "but we do not have direct evidence that it is spreading faster. The high recurrence rate could also be caused by epidemiological factors."
Does it affect the severity of Covid-19 disease?
The researchers said that there is currently no data to evaluate whether this new viral variant affects the severity of Covid-19 disease.
Emma Hordecroft, who led the study at the University of Basel, as quoted by Deutsche Welle, says with great reservation that experts believe that lifting the travel ban, coinciding with the start of the summer vacation, had a significant impact on the spread of the virus, which indicates that the governments of European countries may have accelerated In allowing freedom of movement between countries.