A patient in Italy was found to be infected with the most contagious strain of COVID-19 recently discovered in the UK, the Italian health ministry announced on Sunday.
The health ministry said the patient and his partner were returning to Italy from the UK in recent days on a flight that landed at Rome Fiumicino airport. The couple is currently isolated, Reuters reported.
The contraction of the new strain by the patient occurs when at least six countries temporarily suspended travel to the UK, with official exceptions, after British officials reported the new strain appearing to be more contagious.
Austria, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands instituted flight suspensions Sunday in the UK amid rising cases in the country and the discovery of the most transmissible strain.
Italy has banned anyone who has been in the UK for the past 14 days. The Associated Press reported Sunday.
But former surgeon general Vivek Murthy
Vivek MurthyDiumenge shows preview: US launches first doses of coronavirus vaccine; Congress closes stimulus deal Asian lawmakers look to Biden Labor Secretary Manchin, who says the bipartisan coronavirus relief bill will be introduced on Monday, who has been appointed to return to office under the president-elect Joe Biden
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“While it appears to be more transmissible, we still don’t have evidence that it is a more deadly virus for a person who acquires it,” he said, adding that there is no evidence that coronavirus vaccines would be less effective against this strain.
Italy was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year and has recorded nearly 2 million cases and 68,799 fatalities, the fifth most deaths in any country since it began, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The UK has documented just over 2 million cases and 67,503 deaths, the sixth number of cases and deaths in any country.