Baltic: British corona mutation detected in Latvia ⋆ The Baltic Review

In Latvia, the Corona variant first detected in Great Britain has now also been discovered.

The mutation was detected in a sample in the Baltic EU country, the head of the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre said on television on Sunday evening. According to the health ministry in Riga, the case was linked to a trip to Britain.

A few days before Christmas, a mutation of the coronavirus had appeared in Great Britain, which may be significantly more contagious than the standard form. Experts therefore fear that the spread could complicate the fight against the pandemic.

Latvia – like many other European countries – had temporarily suspended air traffic to Great Britain because of the virus variant. After planes had been operating again between Riga and London since the turn of the year, flights were now suspended again from 11 January, according to the health authority.

Latvia, with its population of just under 1.9 million, has been struggling with an increasing number of new infections since the autumn – the trend is currently worse than in Germany. A total of almost 50,000 cases have been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, and 849 people have died.