First Report of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.7 (Alpha Variant) in Ecuador, January 2021

Abstract

On January 5 2021, Ecuadorian COVID-19 genomic surveillance program detected a suspicious case of the B.1.1.7 lineage (alpha variant) of SARS-CoV-2 in Los Rios province, later confirmed by genome sequencing. The patient travelled from the UK by the end of December 2020. By contact tracing, several new cases were detected confirming B.1.1.7 transmission and spreading in Ecuador.

Keywords:

• SARS-CoV-2
• Ecuador B.1.1.7 lineage
• alpha variant

Acknowledgments

We thank to our colleagues from The USFQ SARS-CoV-2 Consortium: Paul Cardenas, Sully Marquez, Belen Prado-Vivar, Juan José Guadalupe, Bernardo Gutierrez, Mónica Becerra-Wong, Michelle Grunauer, Gabriel Trueba, Patricio Rojas-Silva, Veronica Barragán. They were responsible for the sequencing of several of the alpha variant genomes included in this study. This institution is making a crucial contribution to SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Ecuador.

Ethics Statement

Written consent was obtained from sample collection and case report publication from the patient; the study was authorized by the Scientific Board of Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Salud Pública “Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez.”

Author Contributions

“All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.” AC, MAGB and LP wrote the first draft of the manuscript.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.