Coronavirus was widespread in UK at very start of pandemic, says genetics expert Dr Kari Stefansson is overseeing a project in Iceland to genetically sequence every positive case of COVID-19 in the country.
Michelle Clifford - Europe correspondent
Michelle Clifford
Europe correspondent @skynewsmichelle
Tuesday 28 April 2020 08:15, UK
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Police officers patrol the beach front at Portobello as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
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The UK has not been 'vigilant' enough, Dr Kari Stefansson says
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One of the world's leading human genetics experts has told Sky News that coronavirus was widespread in the UK at the very start of the pandemic and a lack of vigilance allowed the virus to take hold.
Dr Kari Stefansson is overseeing a massive project in Iceland to genetically sequence every positive case of COVID-19 in the country to find out how it mutates and spreads.
He spoke to Sky News at the headquarters of his company deCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, which houses a massive database of more than half the Icelandic population's genetic material.
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Lessons from Iceland in tackling COVID-19
Founded almost a quarter of a century ago, the samples are used to look into the genetic components of diseases. Now he's looking into COVID-19.
He says sequencing tells them where the cases come from.
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"So the virus now has basically a barcode for every part of the world," he said.
"There is a collection of mutation that is relatively characteristic for Austria, another for Italy as well as Great Britain and for the west coast of the United States etc."
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deCODE Genetics houses a massive database of more than half the Icelandic population's genetic material
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deCODE Genetics houses a massive database of more than half the Icelandic population's genetic material
Prof Stefansson said that in the beginning, almost all of the cases came into Iceland from the Alps, from people who had been skiing in Austria and Italy.
The authorities responded by trying to contain the spread of infection from those high risk countries.
He added: "But as they were doing this, the virus was actually sneaking into the country with people from all kinds of other countries.
"And the most notable there is Great Britain. So it looks like the virus had a fairly wide spread in Great Britain very, very early in this epidemic."
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