The Finnish coronavirus variant FIN-796H, discovered in February, is not unique to Finland, it has also been found in other parts of the world.
THL’s leading expert Carita Savolainen-Kopra says that a strain named the FIN-796H variant has been found in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, among others.
It is not a question of the Finnish variant spreading to other countries, but the virus type also occurs in other parts of the world, i.e. the Finnish variant is not unique domestic, as was widely past reported.
Leading expert Carita Savolainen-Kopra says that the matter was clarified a few weeks ago by comparing the inherited viruses with international data.
“The entire genomic sequence was made for the transformation in THL. From this it is possible to deduce which line the virus belongs to. Based on international databases, there are finds elsewhere than in Finland.”
