AUTHOR=Grandi Nicole , Paglietti Bianca , Cusano Roberto , Ibba Gabriele , Lai Vincenzo , Piu Claudia , Angioj Flavia , Serra Caterina , Kelvin David J. , Tramontano Enzo , Rubino Salvatore TITLE=Genomic Snapshot of SARS-CoV-2 in Migrants Entering Through Mediterranean Sea Routes JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=10 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.846115 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.846115 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=
In December 2019, a novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, rapidly spreading into a global pandemic. Italy was the first European country to experience SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, and one of the most severely affected during the first wave of diffusion. In contrast to the general restriction of people movements in Europe, the number of migrants arriving at Italian borders via the Mediterranean Sea route in the summer of 2020 had increased dramatically, representing a possible, uncontrolled source for the introduction of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants. Importantly, most of the migrants came from African countries showing limited SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological surveillance. In this study, we characterized the SARS-CoV-2 genome isolated from an asymptomatic migrant arrived in Sardinia