Two cases had been ascertained yesterday in Puglia . The variant, as is known, is more contagious, not more serious, and is called "English" because it was found for the first time in Great Britain.

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The English variant

The "English variant" of Sars-CoV-2, the Covid-19 virus, was found in Veneto (3 cases), Campania (6 cases) and Abruzzo (one case). Two cases had been ascertained yesterday in Puglia . The variant, as is known, is more contagious, not more serious, and is called "English" because it was found for the first time in Great Britain. The variant is characterized by a combination of deletions (absence of small pieces of the viral genome) and mutations in the S protein (spikes) that make it unique within the panorama of the many variants circulating in the world.

 

For the Veneto, it was communicated by the president of the Region, Luca Zaia, in the usual press point of the Civil Protection of Marghera. The discovery, explained Zaia, was made on Christmas Eve by the Zooprophylactic Institute of the Venezie. "We have scientifically proven that the summer virus had nothing to do with either the first phase or the current one," Zaia said. The presence of the variant, explained Francesca Russo, director of prevention of the Region, was found in two women and a man from the United Kingdom: "Patients are fine, only one person has a little fever", said Russo . The Higher Institute of Health (ISS) and the Ministry of Health were informed of the discovery.

The "English variant" of the virus has also been identified in Campania . Six swab-positive passengers from the UK have S gene mutations typical of this variant. This was ascertained by the researchers of the genomic disequencing group coordinated by Davide Cacchiarelli at the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine in Pozzuoli, ilTigem. Further studies are underway in close collaboration with the Spallanzani Institute in Rome. The six travelers, returning from London, had been checked at Capodichino airport in Naples before flights to the United Kingdom were suspended. In the remaining samples analyzed, 8 different variants of the new coronavirus were identified, all belonging to the "type B", widespread in Europe.

A case of "English variant" has also been identified in Abruzzo . The experimental zooprophylactic institute of Abruzzo and Molise identified it in a patient from the province of Chieti.