UK finds 11 cases of South African identified variant in people with no travel links
Scientists have said the SA virus variant appears to be more transmissible, but there is no evidence it causes more severe disease
Eleven people in different regions have tested positive for the coronavirus variant identified in South Africa without having any links to people who have travelled recently, prompting mass testing in the areas to contain the outbreak.
The UK government said on Monday the people are self-isolating and robust contact tracing has taken place to trace their contacts and ask them to self-isolate too.
Residents in eight postcodes — three in London; two in the south east; and one in the West Midlands, east of England, and the North West — would now be tested for the new variant whether they are showing symptoms or not under what is known as “surge testing” it said.
“Every person over 16 living in these locations is strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 test this week, whether they are showing symptoms or not,” the government said in a statement.
The government said in January it had detected cases of both the SA and Brazilian variants, but all were linked to travel. In total, Public Health England said it has identified 105 cases of the SA variant since December 22.
All viruses mutate frequently, and scientists have identified several variants of the coronavirus found to be more transmissible than the original strain.
The emergence of more infectious variants has raised questions over whether vaccines will prove as effective in containing them.
Scientists have said the SA variant appears to be more transmissible, but there is no evidence it causes more severe disease. However, several laboratory studies have found that it reduces vaccine and antibody therapy efficacy.
Clinical trial data on two Covid-19 vaccines — from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson — released on Saturday showed they had less ability to protect against the illness caused by the SA variant.
But Surrey’s local resilience forum said there is no evidence the regulated vaccine would not protect against it. The Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are being rolled out across Britain.
Reuters