Mutation of Covid-19: a case spotted in Germany infected in November

A German, infected at the end of November and died since, was infected with the new strain of the coronavirus which has been circulating for several months in the United Kingdom, and which has been detected in other countries such as France, Belgium or Spain. The German authorities revealed Tuesday, December 29 that this patient, “very old” and suffering from previous pathologies, had been infected at the end of November. Scientists were “able to sequence the variant of the B1.1.7 virus” at home, said the Ministry of Health of Lower Saxony (North) in a press release, sent to Agence France Presse.

The man’s wife, who contracted the same strain of the coronavirus, has recovered. In its press release, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Health does not specify whether her husband died of the coronavirus. Their daughter had stayed in the United Kingdom “mid-November” and would “in all likelihood” be infected on the spot, say the authorities.

At least one other confirmed case in Germany

Teams from the Hanover School of Medicine (North) were able to identify the strain after genome “sequencing”. These results were confirmed by the Berlin team of virologist Christian Drosten, from the Charité hospital, a reference on Covid-19 in Germany. Until then, Germany had only reported one proven case of the new coronavirus mutation, in a woman who arrived by plane from London last Thursday.

This mutation is considered more contagious by the British authorities, who sounded the alarm bells last week. The emergence of the new strain in England led most European states to close their borders with the country last week.

The mutation has since been found in several countries, such as Portugal, France or even Jordan and South Korea. Germany has extended the suspension of land, sea and air links with Great Britain until January 6.