MURMANSK, Russia, (Sputnik) – Sweden has registered the first case of the new coronavirus strain that was recently discovered in the United Kingdom, Sara Byfors, head of the Swedish Public Health Agency’s department, said on Saturday.
“It has been confirmed that a person in Sodermanland has contracted the mutant strain of COVID-19 discovered in the United Kingdom,” Byfors told a news conference.
The official added that the infected person arrived from the UK and self-isolated on his return home. The patient’s family did not contract the infection.
Byfors pointed out that Sweden has begun extensive research to find out if the new strain of the infection is spreading in the country.
“Since the information came out, we have intensified monitoring. Today, we are analyzing the tests on all those who have returned from the UK since October. On Monday, we issued a recommendation for all travelers to pass the tests so that we can monitor the infection and we guarantee that this variant of the virus does not spread in Sweden “, said Byfors.
Last week, the United Kingdom announced that a new strain of coronavirus had been detected in the country, with the new variant 70 percent more transmissible than other SARS-CoV-2 variants. Following the news, many countries suspended travel to and from the UK. However, there is no evidence that the new strain is more pathogenic. Cases of the new variant of the virus have been reported by several countries, including Denmark, Japan, Singapore and Spain.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Sweden has not confirmed new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, leaving a total of 396,048. The country has registered 28,928 new COVID-19 infections in the last week.