In the context of monitoring the epidemiological picture in Cyprus and controlling the incidence of new strains of the virus, the Ministry of Health, in addition to sending samples to the ECDC for specialized sequencing tests, proceeded, in collaboration with a private clinical laboratory in Cyprus, in the examination of samples with sampling dates from 19 April to 13 June, from all the Provinces.
In total, the virus variant was successfully detected in 100 samples.
Of these, in 24 samples the Delta strain was identified, in 73 the British strain and in 3 samples other mutations of no clinical interest (non variants of concern).
In summary, the table below shows the detection rates of mutations in samples tested by both the ECDC and Cyprus, with sampling dates from March 9 to July 1, 2021:
An additional 13 samples with mutations of no clinical interest were identified.
According to the above data, the gradual but large increase of the samples where the Delta variant was detected is seen with greater certainty. From the few cases of the mutation at the end of April to the beginning of May, we are in its almost complete prevalence at the beginning of July.