UK coronavirus variant found in 71% of Slovak cases, PM says

The UK coronavirus variant, more infectious than the previously dominant strain, has taken over as the main cause of new COVID-19 cases in Slovakia, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Friday.

The UK coronavirus variant, more infectious than the previously dominant strain, has taken over as the main cause of new COVID-19 cases in Slovakia, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Friday. The central European country of 5.5 million has struggled to bring down daily cases despite lockdown measures and widespread testing, which is required for people to go out including to work.

Hospitals have been strained with 3,560 coronavirus patients on Thursday. Matovic said the government had checked all positive samples of PCR laboratory tests taken in the country on Wednesday and preliminary results showed 71% were the UK variant.

"So far from 1,360 clinical samples positively tested by RT-PCR, 71% have been diagnosed as the B.1.1.7 UK variant of SARS-CoV-2," Matovic said on Facebook. The British variant is believed to be up to 70% more infectious than the previously dominant strain, and may also be 30% more lethal, some scientists say.

The proportion was even higher among coronavirus patients at the Louis Pasteur University Hospital in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice where tests showed 91% carried the UK variant of the virus, news agency TASR reported. Slovakia has recorded 5,050 deaths from the coronavirus.

Matovic said the spread of the UK variant made it difficult to ease lockdown measures, as his ruling coalition squabbled on Friday whether to reopen lower grades of elementary schools and kindergartens as planned next week. "Such a proportion of the Brit (mutation) means that any easing without any adequate protective/compensatory measures will cause an increase of positive cases and an erosion of the situation," he said.