ARCHIVED - Kent variant responsible for 20 per cent of Covid cases in Spain
In Andalucía and other regions the Kent variant will become the dominant strain within 10 days
With the rate of Covid vaccination in Spain and the rest of the EU still lagging far behind that of the UK, and with regional governments beginning to relax the restrictions on movement and socializing which were introduced to curb the spread of the third wave of infection, there is growing evidence to suggest that the spread of the “British variant” or “Kent variant” of coronavirus could yet contribute to there being a fourth wave.
Due to the difficulties encountered by the already overstretched health services in analysing large numbers of samples, the extent to which the Kent variant is present in this country is hard to evaluate exactly, but it is certain that it is here and is spreading rapidly. In the Region of Murcia 316 samples of coronavirus have been taken from patients and forwarded for analysis to the National Centre of Microbiology, and 77 have been found to contain the Kent variant.
If these figures are treated as representative it would mean that 24 per cent of Covid cases in Murcia are the result of the Kent strain, which would match reports concerning the proportion elsewhere in the country. At present it is estimated that around 20 per cent of all cases in Spain are caused by the British/Kent variant (the term used extensively in the media), although the rate is said to vary between 1 and 40 per cent from region to region and area to area, according to the national Minister for Health, Carolina Darias.
Again, though, there is a suspicion that not enough analysis is being carried out to confirm the true extent of this more virulent version of the Covid-19 virus in Spain: the Ministry data report a total of 613 confirmed cases but at the same time it is admitted that only in a minimal number of cases is the genome of the virus sequenced: this is the process required to detect and identify the strain concerned.
In Madrid, the health authorities report a rate of 30 per cent, rising to over half in some health areas, while in Catalunya the overall proportion is placed at over a third with figures above 40 per cent in certain areas. These figures are similar to those produced in France, where the Kent strain is being detected in a third or so of analyses performed.
In Andalucía meanwhile, the figure quoted by the regional Health minister Jesús Aguirre is 41 per cent, rising to 51 per cent in the Campo de Gibraltar area, and the strain is likely to become the dominant one in the region “within a week or ten days”.
Sra Darias adds that although the British variant is known to be more easily transmitted – up to 8 times more infectious, according to research in New York which has been published in Life magazine - and may be more aggressive, the vaccines being used have been shown to be effective against it. This is not the case, she reports for the South African and Brazilian variants, of which very few cases have so far been confirmed in Spain (7 and 3 respectively).