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Hanover (dpa / lni) - The new coronavirus variant from England has been detected for the first time in Lower Saxony.
The Hannover Medical School (MHH) was able to retrospectively determine the virus variant B1.1.7 in an infection from November, the Ministry of Health announced in Hannover on Monday.
It is the sample of a very old Covid patient who has since died with previous illnesses and his wife.
The reference laboratory of the Berlin Charité confirmed the result.
The new virus variant is now responsible for a large part of the infections in the south of England and, according to initial findings, may be particularly contagious.
According to the ministry, the patient's daughter was in England in mid-November and probably infected there.
The daughter and wife of the deceased have now recovered.
According to the findings of the health department of the Hanover region, there were no further infections in connection with these cases.
The head of the crisis team of the Lower Saxony state government, Heiger Scholz, expressed his condolences to the relatives.
"The appearance of the virus variant is another reason for all of us to adhere particularly strictly to the applicable contact restrictions and hygiene measures," said the State Secretary for Health.
"As long as we do this, we take every variant of the virus the chance to spread."
Scholz had previously reported in an interview with radio ffn about the appearance of the new variant in Lower Saxony.