New virus strain causing surge in cases across Europe

A coronavirus strain that emerged in Spain in June has spread across Europe and now makes up a large proportion of infections in several countries, researchers said, highlighting the role of travel in the pandemic and the need to track mutations.

The variant 20A.EU1, which has not been found to be inherently more dangerous, was first identified among farm workers in the eastern Spanish regions of Aragon and Catalonia. Over the last two months, it has accounted for close to 90% of new infections in Spain, according to the research paper, authored by seven researchers with backing by Swiss and Spanish public-sector science institutions. It is yet to be peer reviewed.

The strain has crossed borders and accounted for 40-70% of new infections in Switzerland, Ireland and the UK in September, they found. “Its frequency in the UK has continued to increase even after quarantine-free travel was discontinued. Thus this variant might transmit faster than competing variants,” the researchers wrote. “The rapid rise of these variants in Europe highlights the importance of genomic surveillance,” they added.