A highly transmissible Mexican variant of COVID-19 has arrived in Europe, Italian researchers have warned.
Researchers found the number of cases of the variant doubled during April – and that is now represents half of all cases of infection in Mexico, which has reported 2.4 million cases of infection in total.
Mexico currently has lower numbers of cases being reported than the UK but a much higher death rate.
The UK reported a significant increase in infection numbers over the weekend – indicating the spread of the new wave attributed to the Indian (delta) variant.
The Italian study found cases of the Mexican variant in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland with four cases reported in Italy.
The findings were reported in the Journal of Medical Virology.
Researcher Professor Federico Giorgi, of the University of Bologna, said: "This variant has been increasingly spreading among people in North America, particularly in Mexico. To date, this variant covers more than 50% of the existing viruses in this area. The rate and speed of the spread recall those of the ‘British variant'(alpha).
"The mutation of the Spike protein is structurally located in the region of interaction with human receptor ACE2. Coronaviruses attach to this receptor to infect cells, thus spreading the infection with more efficacy.”
He added: "Thanks to the great amount of data available in international databases, we can hold an almost real-time control over the situation by monitoring the spread of coronavirus variants across different geographical areas. Keeping up this effort in the next months will be crucial to act promptly and with efficient means.”
The UK has now reported more than 5,000 cases of infection daily over four days with numbers passing 6,000 on Friday. 28 deaths have been reported in the last three days.
Mexico yesterday reported 2,649 cases of infection and 186 deaths from COVID-19. India reported more than 101,000 new cases and 2,445 deaths.
Speaking yesterday UK health secretary Matt Hancock said the Indian (delta) variant has proved 40% more transmissible than the Kent (alpha) strain.
This has made the decision on proceeding with the end of lockdown on 21 June as “tricky call.”
He said: “We said in the road map that June 21 is the date by which we would not take step four before that date and that we would look at the data. “That is exactly what we are doing, so the road map was set up in order to be able to take these sort of changes into account.”
Preliminary report on SARS-CoV-2 Spike mutation T478K. Journal of Medical Virology 4 June 2021
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