MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First case of Delta variant in Argentine province of Mendoza spotted in woman who had been in Spain

Spain doesn't want the Delta variant to arrive from Argentina but it has already flown in the opposite direction

Just when the Government of Spain has decided to lift a mandatory quarantine for travellers arriving from Argentina and other countries in the region, the first case of the coronavirus Delta variant has been detected in Mendoza in a patient who had arrived from there.

Health authorities in the Argentine province bordering Chile Monday announced the new strain had been found in a 57-year-old woman who arrived from Spain on August 3 through the Ezeiza international airport in Buenos Aires.

At the time of entry, an antigen test for SARS CoV 2 was performed and the entire family group yielded negative results, due to which they were allowed to continue their trip to Mendoza.

Upon entering the province, “the family carried out the corresponding quarantine at their home” and on the seventh day, August 10, a PCR test was carried out at the Lencinas Hospital, in compliance with protocols in force for international travellers.

The samples were sent over to the Malbrán Institute in Buenos Aires, where it was confirmed that the woman had been infected with the Delta variant.

The entire family was in good health, according to Mendoza health authorities.

Meanwhile, the Government of Spain has announced the lifting of the ten-day mandatory quarantine for travellers arriving from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia as well as from Namibia and South Africa, a measure which had been set in place to halt the spread of the Delta strain.

Nevertheless, travellers will be required to have taken a full vaccination scheme at least 14 days before the arrival of drugs already validated by Europe's EMA regulatory agency or the World Health Organization (WHO), which means recipients of -for example- the Russian-developed Sputnik V drug are not eligible.