Covid-19 likely to have entered Scotland earlier, say scientists
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Scientists studying the emergence of COVID-19 in Scotland say the virus is likely to have entered the country before the first confirmed case on March 1.
By looking at full genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – researchers have found the virus was introduced at least 113 times during the first four weeks of the outbreak in Scotland, mainly from other European countries such as Italy, Austria and Spain.
The research, which has yet to be peer reviewed, can be found here
It adds that a dramatic shift away from cases linked to foreign travel was apparent from March 11, just 10 days after the first detected case.
The scientists have therefore concluded that several early introductions of the virus went undetected and quickly established community transmission within Scotland.
Emma Thomson, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, said: "Our study confirms SARS-CoV-2 entered the Scottish population through at least 113 separate travel-related introductions, leading to multiple clusters of sustained community transmission.
"We identified viral lineages with no link to travel as early as three days after the first detection of infection, indicating earlier introduction to Scotland and community spread before the first detected case.
"The emergence of continental Europe as the epicentre of the global COVID pandemic was a clear driver of the Scottish outbreak, with the majority of the lineages detected in this study related to European sequences.
"Cases with links to China and other countries in South-East Asia were comparatively not detected.
"The speed at which the virus took hold in Scotland and the UK as a whole following multiple introductions, mainly from other European countries, was extremely rapid.
"It is possible an earlier lockdown from countries with a high burden of cases, such as Italy, and other measures such as quarantine of travellers from high-risk areas, might have prevented escalation of the outbreak and multiple clusters of ongoing community transmission."
Read the news from Moray here
