Coronavirus: British variant still dominant strain in Cyprus new data finds

The British variant is dominant in Cyprus, the health ministry said on Friday citing the latest results on samples collected from people of Cyprus found positive for Covid-19 that were sent to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

According to the health ministry, the British variant was detected in all of the 111 samples collected in March from all districts. It said the British variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus is dominant in the community of Cyprus.

“The new results largely explain the rising tendency of the last few days in terms of the number of cases, as it has been scientifically proven that the British variant is more than 50 per cent more contagious,” it said.

The health ministry urged people to get vaccinated the soonest possible with the available licenced vaccines arguing that the prevention of the spread caused by the mutations can be achieved by the vaccination of the population.

It also cites the recommendations from the ECDC, on limiting the transmissibility caused by the variant which requires states to focus their efforts on early detection of cases through enhanced testing and contact tracing.