The Spanish autonomous community of Galicia has registered the country’s first case of the mutant coronavirus strain linked to South Africa, the regional government said.
“The health service of Galicia has detected the presence of the South African strain in Vigo, thus being the first Spanish community, which registered this COVID-19 variant,” the authority said.
According to the release, the new strain was confirmed in a 30-year-old man who had been to South Africa for work.
Upon returning to Spain, he reported infection symptoms and, on Jan. 5, tested positive for the new COVID-19 variant.
The new strain was registered in South Africa in October 2020.
According to the researches, this variant is more contagious, however, there is no evidence yet if it affects the severity of illness or mortality.
As for the resistance to vaccines, the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech developers confirmed that their vaccines create immunity to new strains.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Spain has registered more than 2.7 million positive COVID-19 cases, and the death toll has reached 57,806 people.
