The retrospective SARS-Cov-2 screening results, in which the researchers of the Near East University DESAM Institute determined that the first COVID-19 case detected in TRNC was not a German tourist but a local case in Famagusta, published in the "Journal of Infection" of the Netherlands-based Elsevier Publishing House.
The retrospective molecular SARS-CoV-2 screening conducted by DESAM Research Institute Director Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal, Exp. Ayşegül Bostancı, Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Department member Prof. Dr. Kaya Süer, and aimed to determine whether the virus was available in the community before the first case diagnosed in the TRNC.
Research results show that the first COVID-19 case in TRNC was local
Within the scope of the study, a retrospective SARS-CoV-2 scan with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in the swab sample of 172 people who applied to the Near East University Hospital with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection between September 1, 2019, and March 15, 2020, was carried out. Researchers detected positivity in a swab sample dated March 11, 2020, and determined that the first COVID-19 case detected in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was not a German tourist, but a local case. Thus, it was revealed that the local transmission in the TRNC started before the planned date.
The study results, which found that SARS-CoV-2 was seen in the community in Northern Cyprus in the pre-pandemic period, once again showed that the large-scale screenings performed in the early stages of the pandemic were an important factor in preventing intra-community transmission. It is possible to reach the article via the link below.