The first recorded dual infection case of its kind, the infected individual was confirmed to have not just the first circulating strain of the Wuhan coronavirus but also a second, which the RÚV news outlet in Iceland says could be more malicious or infectious because other people who were infected by this dual-strain patient only contracted the second mutated strain.
What this suggests is that the second mutated strain could have the ability to become more infectious over time with each new infection, though this hasn't been officially confirmed.
Kári Stefánsson, deCODE CEO, recently spoke to RÚV about the case, explaining that the strain sample collected from the dually-infected patient hasn't yet been seen outside of Iceland. This is based on a strain-matching analysis conducted using international databases.
Stefánsson's company has already analyzed some 40 different genetic sequences of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) strains identified in Iceland, and the sheer diversity of what's been identified points to the novel virus having been brought in from many more places than originally thought.
The Icelandic infections that have been identified thus far suggest that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) was brought into the country from Italy, Australia and Great Britain. One particular football match in the United Kingdom is believed to be the primary source for Iceland's seven known infections.
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About 3,500 Icelanders probably have have coronavirus, Kári warns
While only these seven cases of the virus have been identified thus far, Kári estimates that about one percent, or roughly 3,500, of Iceland's total population currently has the virus, even if they don't know it and symptoms aren't present.
Earlier screenings suggested that only about 0.5 percent, or somewhere in the ballpark of 1,750 Icelanders, have the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). But Kári believes the true figure to be double that, seeing as how the virus has a long incubation period and can spread rapidly during that time.
Currently, Iceland has some of the most robust testing capabilities for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) anywhere in the world. However, because of European Union-wide shortages of medical supplies such as swabs, testing capacity is lower than health experts had hoped.
To date, there have been more than 10,000 samples collected from potentially infected individuals, and Icelandic scientists have been able to use this for advanced data analysis purposes. Because of this, Iceland is said to be a world leader in research involving the genetic make-up of the virus.
Iceland's Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) tracking mechanisms are so extreme that officials are now able to run down leads and profile suspects in the same way that police detectives chase down criminals.
"Every second somebody is getting infected, so obviously we want as few people infected as we possibly can," stated Gestur Palmason, a 40-year-old "contact tracer" who works at Iceland's National Crisis Coordination Center, which is leading the way in Iceland's fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19).
"As quickly as we can, we have to reach everyone that might have been in contact with someone who's positive, and try to stop them before they get in contact with more people."
Palmason and his team say they're able to identify and locate individuals who have been in close proximity to known carriers of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), often in just a few minutes after these carriers receive a diagnosis.
More late-breaking news about the Chinese Virus (COVID-19) is available at Pandemic.news.
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