Table_1_Genomic Snapshot of SARS-CoV-2 in Migrants Entering Through Mediterranean Sea Routes.DOCX

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 via the Mediterranean route in September 2020, in comparison with SARS-CoV-2 isolates arrived in Sicily through the Libyan migration route; with SARS-CoV-2 isolates circulating in Sardinia during 2020; and with viral genomes reported in African countries during the same summer. Results showed that our sequence is not phylogenetically related to isolates from migrants arriving in Sicily, nor to isolates circulating in Sardinia territory, having greater similarity to SARS-CoV-2 genomes reported in countries known for being sites of migrant embarkation to Italy. This is in line with the hypothesis that most SARS-CoV-2 infections among migrants have been acquired prior to embarking to Italy, possibly during the travel to or the stay in crowded Libyan immigrant camps. Overall, these observations underline the importance of dedicated SARS-CoV-2 surveillance of migrants arriving in Italy and in Europe through the Mediterranean routes.

于2019年12月，一种新型冠状病毒在中国武汉爆发，迅速蔓延至全球大流行。意大利成为首个遭遇SARS-CoV-2疫情的欧洲国家，也是第一波传播中最受严重影响的地区之一。与欧洲普遍限制人员流动的措施不同，2020年夏季，通过地中海路线抵达意大利边境的移民数量急剧增加，这可能是引入新型SARS-CoV-2变异株的一个可能的、未受控制的来源。值得注意的是，大多数移民来自对SARS-CoV-2流行病学监测有限的非洲国家。在本研究中，我们描述了从2020年9月通过地中海路线抵达撒丁岛的、无症状的移民中分离出的SARS-CoV-2基因组，并将其与通过利比亚移民路线抵达西西里岛的SARS-CoV-2分离株；与2020年在撒丁岛流行的SARS-CoV-2分离株；以及同一夏季在非洲国家报告的病毒基因组进行了比较。结果显示，我们的序列在系统发育上与抵达西西里岛的移民分离株无关，也与在撒丁岛领土上流行的分离株无关，其与已知为意大利移民启航地的国家报告的SARS-CoV-2基因组具有更高的相似性。这与假设大多数移民在启航前往意大利之前就已经感染了SARS-CoV-2，可能在前往或停留在拥挤的利比亚移民营地期间感染相符。总的来说，这些观察结果强调了在意大利和通过地中海路线抵达欧洲的移民中进行专门的SARS-CoV-2监测的重要性。