Medical staff attend a mass beneath a cross outside the Tor Vergata hospital in Rome
Credit: AFP
Cases of the new coronavirus variant were detected around the world on Monday, from Italy and Gibraltar to Denmark and Australia.
The mutated virus, first identified in Britain, is likely to become the dominant global strain of Covid-19, a British scientist warned.
Calum Semple, professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said the new strain’s rate of infection was much faster than previous variants.
"Because the virus has the evolutionary advantage in transmitting more quickly, it will out-compete all the other strains.
"As immunity comes into the community more widely, then you’ll start to see more pressure on the virus and you’re more likely to see other escapes of other variations,” he said.
Britain led the world in identifying and understanding how diseases behave, Prof Semple said.
"We shouldn’t beat ourselves up about this evolving here. The fact is we’ve identified it, we’ve brought it to national attention, we’ve got the attention of the politicians and the World Health Organisation in very quick time."
Australian authorities reported two cases of the fast-spreading new strain in New South Wales, the country’s most populous state. The cases were detected among people returning from Britain, officials said.
"We’ve had a couple of UK-returned travellers with the particular mutations," said Kerry Chant, chief health officer for New South Wales.
Australia is not yet considering suspending flights with Britain. "Everyone coming from the UK is going into 14 days of hotel quarantine and they are of no risk as that quarantine works so successfully," said Paul Kelly, the chief medical officer.
At least one case of the rapidly spreading new variant was detected in Gibraltar. Spain said it would step up controls at the border with the British territory.
The Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark. The Swedish government decided to close the border to visitors from Denmark, to fight the spread of the coronavirus
Credit: Reuters
In Italy, a doctor who flew to Rome from the UK on Sunday was found to be suffering from the new strain. The doctor is in isolation but is reported to have mild symptoms.
Cases of the new strain were identified in the Netherlands earlier this month and it has also been detected in Iceland.
Sweden took the unprecedented step of closing its borders to Denmark in an attempt to stop the spread of the new strain of the coronavirus.
The decision was taken after the Danish government reported nine cases of the new variant last week.
It is the first time since the global pandemic started early this year that Sweden, which has shunned lockdowns, has closed its borders to any neighbouring country.
“To minimise the risk of it spreading here, the government has today decided on a ban of entry," said Mikael Damberg, the interior minister.
The ban would take effect from midnight on Monday and would remain in place “for about a month”, he said.
The travel ban was also intended to stop Danes from traveling to Sweden for Christmas shopping, after shopping centres in Denmark were closed.
"There is a clear risk that Danes are being lured over to Sweden to shop," said Mr Damberg.
Scientists said the strain may already be circulating in countries with less advanced detection methods than the United Kingdom.
"Britain is simply the country which finds these mutations the most because they are looking for them more. There are countries that hardly search or do not search at all," Marc Van Ranst, a virologist from the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium, told Belgian broadcaster VRT.
"I think we will find in the coming days that a lot of other countries will find it."
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