A genetic variant of the coronavirus first seen in farm workers in Spain has spread across Europe and now accounts for more than 80 per cent of infections in Britain, a study suggests.
Its origins have raised questions about whether holidaymakers brought it to the UK and whether tighter border controls and quarantine measures might have contained it.
The spread of the variant, which is known as 20A.EU1 and has six distinctive genetic mutations, has been described in a study released online but not yet peer reviewed. Scientists are now looking for evidence of whether its genetic features make it more transmissible or have any impact on the severity of illness.
Genetically speaking, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is seen by scientists as fairly stable.
