ARCHIVED - British variant accounts for 72 per cent of covid positives in Murcia region
The British strain causes more than 70 per cent of infections in 11 of the 17 regions
So rapid has the spread of the “British” or “Kent” strain of Covid-19 been over the last two months in Spain that, according to the latest figures published by the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, it now accounts for over 70 per cent of all new cases in 11 of the country’s 17 regions.
In the Murcia region the percentage of cases now reported of the British/Kent variant, is 72 per cent and the Murcia region has also reported eight cases of the South African variant and one case of the Brazilian variant.
In fact, in many northern regions the B.1.1.7 strain is even more dominant, accounting for 98.7 per cent of all new cases in Asturias, 95.3 per cent in Galicia, 95 per cent in Cantabria, 93.7 per cent in Navarra and 90 per cent in Catalunya. The other regions with proportions of over 70 per cent are reported to be the Balearics (81,8 per cent), Castilla-La Mancha (74.4 per cent), the Comunidad Valenciana (78.4 per cent), Melilla (78.6 per cent), Murcia (72.2 per cent), the Basque Country (76.2 per cent) and La Rioja (74 per cent).
At the same time, the South African variant continues to cause concern: so far a total of 72 cases have been confirmed throughout the country, many of them traced to travellers arriving from various African nations. Similarly, the Brazilian variant now accounts for a total of 32 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The latest situation regarding other strains of coronavirus in Spain is as follows:
P.2 (Río de Janeiro): cases detected include two travellers arriving from Brazil, a family outbreak affecting three people and a hospital outbreak affecting nine patients.
​B.1.258 (Czech Republic and Slovakia): 18 cases confirmed in four regions of Spain.
B.1.525 (NIgerian): One case detected in Spain, in January 2021.
B.1.429 (California): 25 cases detected.
C.16 (Portugal): One confirmed case.
A.23.1 (Uganda): Three cases confirmed in one of the regions of Spain.