Regional importation and asymmetric within-country spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in the Netherlands.

ABSTRACT: Variants of concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2 have caused resurging waves of infections worldwide. In the Netherlands, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants circulated widely between September 2020 and August 2021. To understand how various control measures had impacted the spread of these VOCs, we analyzed 39,844 SARS-CoV-2 genomes collected under the Dutch national surveillance program. We found that all four VOCs were introduced before targeted flight restrictions were imposed on countries where the VOCs first emerged. Importantly, foreign introductions, predominantly from other European countries, continued during these restrictions. Our findings show that flight restrictions had limited effectiveness in deterring VOC introductions due to the strength of regional land travel importation ris

SUBMITTER: Han AX 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8963694 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature