Germany recorded UK COVID-19 variant cases since November

Authorities in Germany said they recorded a case of the new UK coronavirus variant that dates back to November.

It's the first case of what leaders have said is a more transmissible version of the virus in Lower Saxony, officials from the northwestern German state said.

The Hannover Medical School (MHH) retrospectively sequenced the virus genome of infection from November.

The new mutated version of the virus was detected in samples from a now-deceased older case and his wife taken on November 27th and 30th, the federal state of Lower Saxony said in a press release. The decision was then confirmed by Berlin's Charité Hospital.

"The patient's daughter had lived in England in mid-November and was most likely infected with the virus there," officials said in a report.

Germany's Robert Koch Institute said it was unsurprising to find the UK variant in Germany, the statement said.

These are not the first people in Germany who were found to have this version of COVID-19.

An expert in the United Kingdom had said last week that the new coronavirus variant was likely now in most if not all European countries.

UK health minister Matt Hancock first announced that there was a new variant of coronavirus in London and southeast England on December 14 in the House of Commons.

Officials later said that they thought it was more transmissible and responsible for rapidly rising infections in southeast England.

Several European nations including Spain, France and Germany imposed strict travel restrictions on people coming from the UK, cancelling flights and closing borders in a drastic move to check the virus spread.

Trucks quickly were blocked at the port of Dover and prevented from entering the EU, until France partially opened the border to some travellers with a negative COVID-19 test.

EU transport commissioner Adina Valean condemned the move citing supply chain issues. UK supermarkets had said they could have shortages quickly due to the border closures.

Some in the UK asked if the country was being unjustly punished for sharing information, given that it does more genomic sequencing than other countries.