Paata Imnadze, Deputy Head of the National Center for Disease Control, says the new coronavirus strain is no different from the old Covid-19 in clinical progression. The first case of mutant Covid-19 strain was confirmed in Georgia on January 4.

Imnadze said after the Coordinating Council meeting, the patient, who contracted a new strain of coronavirus, had no travel history, but he had contact with a person from abroad.

Three suspicious cases of the new coronavirus strain were revealed following the analysis of all positive Covid-19 cases in Georgia, the NCDC Deputy Head informed. Only one patient was confirmed.

“There is no difference in clinical progression between the new and old Covid-19 strains, the scientific evidence published by British colleagues shows. The patient had no travel history. After the data on a new strain was published, we examined all the positive tests in Georgia to see suspicious positive cases. A suspicious case is if two of the three genes are good positive, while one is not positive. There were three such cases out of a few thousand in Georgia. All other cases that were positive in Georgia were positive for all three genes. The contacts of these patients have already undergone the 14-day isolation period. Our new mutant strain patient has no travel history. But he had contact with a person who had a travel history before becoming ill. A sample of this person has been found, and sequencing is underway,” Imnadze said.