Genetic analysis showed that the new mutated strain of coronavirus emerged in Europe at the beginning of the pandemic, and this strain now prevalent in the United States, where it was “imported” by foreign nationals.
the Researchers said that the early global spread of the novel coronavirus have occurred as a result of visits of foreigners in three countries: China, Italy and Iran. Three-quarters of the cases reported outside of China in January and February, were associated with tourists from these three countries, said experts from the US Centers for control and prevention (CDC).
“Cases associated with travel to China, Italy or Iran amounted to almost two-thirds of the first experts was infections,” wrote Dr. Fatima Dawood of the CDC in an article for the Lancet Infecious Diseases. According to her, the transmission of the virus SARS-CoV-2 nationals or foreigners, who visited these three States, apparently led to additional outbreaks around the world, “before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020”.
the researchers analyzed online reports of national ministries of health and other web-sites of public institutions, social networks and news reports leading media to count all the cases of coronavirus recorded in period from 31 December to 10 March in the world, CNN reports.
They found that half of the early cases of the disease in Africa has been associated with the travel of tourists from Italy. Travelers from Italy were carrying the virus in the third of the earliest cases in other countries of Europe and America, where the virus and mutated, leading to a large number of infections and deaths. The analysis also showed that the virus was spreading there, where gathered large groups of people, mainly near tourist attractions, shopping malls, and in restaurants and cafes.
in addition, four large outbreaks have been associated with the transmission of religious institutions. This underlines the need for partnerships with religious organizations in the development and implementation of measures for mitigation in the community, said Dr. Philip ricks, of the CDC, who worked on the preparation of the final report. According to him, it was also revealed six major clusters of infection prior to the announcement of the start of a pandemic-related clinics and hospitals, which underscores the need for strict prevention and control of infections and medical monitoring of employees for signs of illness.
