At the end of 2020, a new highly transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in the United Kingdom (UK). This work aims to identify potential cases of the UK variant in Portugal using routine diagnostic samples. A total of 26 out of 43 positive samples that were identified by RT-PCR as suspects were confirmed through sequencing to be the SARS-CoV-2 UK variant. The first case of the UK variant identified by us was in samples collected on 21 December 2020 at Lisbon airport in travelers from Manchester and London.
Detection of the SARS-CoV-2 UK Variant in Portugal