RT Journal Article
T1 Spread of a SARS-CoV-2 variant through Europe in the summer of 2020.
A1 Hodcroft, Emma B
A1 Zuber, Moira
A1 Nadeau, Sarah
A1 Vaughan, Timothy G
A1 Crawford, Katharine H D
A1 Althaus, Christian L
A1 Reichmuth, Martina L
A1 Bowen, John E
A1 Walls, Alexandra C
A1 Corti, Davide
A1 Bloom, Jesse D
A1 Veesler, David
A1 Mateo, David
A1 Hernando, Alberto
A1 Comas, Iñaki
A1 González-Candelas, Fernando
A1 SeqCOVID-SPAIN consortium, 
A1 Stadler, Tanja
A1 Neher, Richard A
AB Following its emergence in late 2019, the spread of SARS-CoV-21,2 has been tracked by phylogenetic analysis of viral genome sequences in unprecedented detail3-5. Although the virus spread globally in early 2020 before borders closed, intercontinental travel has since been greatly reduced. However, travel within Europe resumed in the summer of 2020. Here we report on a SARS-CoV-2 variant, 20E (EU1), that was identified in Spain in early summer 2020 and subsequently spread across Europe. We find no evidence that this variant has increased transmissibility, but instead demonstrate how rising incidence in Spain, resumption of travel, and lack of effective screening and containment may explain the variant's success. Despite travel restrictions, we estimate that 20E (EU1) was introduced hundreds of times to European countries by summertime travellers, which is likely to have undermined local efforts to minimize infection with SARS-CoV-2. Our results illustrate how a variant can rapidly become dominant even in the absence of a substantial transmission advantage in favourable epidemiological settings. Genomic surveillance is critical for understanding how travel can affect transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and thus for informing future containment strategies as travel resumes.
YR 2021
FD 2021-06-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10668/26185
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10668/26185
LA en
DS RISalud
RD Apr 6, 2025