UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday that new cases of the novel coronavirus with "mutations of concern" have been detected in Bristol and Liverpool, with the two cities joining other areas in England where a mass COVID-19 testing program is being implemented to find the South African virus strain.
"We have also seen 11 cases of mutations of concern in Bristol and 32 in Liverpool, and are taking the same approach. In all these areas it is imperative that people must stay at home and only leave home where it is absolutely essential," Hancock told Parliament.
The door-to-door testing began on Tuesday in eight areas of north London and southeast England where 105 cases of the variant first identified in South Africa including 11 cases which don't appear to have any links to international travel have been recently detected.
"In those areas where this variant has been found we're putting in extra testing and sequencing every positive test," the minister said, urging people in the infected areas to get tested as soon as possible even without symptoms.
A government scientific adviser warned on Tuesday that the mutation of most concern seen in the South African and Brazilian variants has also been identified in the coronavirus strain found in Kent, England.
"The mutation of most concern, which we call E484K, has also occurred spontaneously in the new Kent strain in parts of the country too," Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told BBC radio.
With over 3,8 million cases of the novel coronavirus and more than 106,000 COVID-19 related deaths, the UK has seen the highest number of fatalities in Europe and ranks fifth in the world among the worst affected countries after the US, Brazil, Mexico and India.
In his statement in Parliament, Hancock also said that with some 9.2 million people vaccinated so far, the government is confident of being able to immunize the 15 million people in the top four priority groups - over 70s, health and care workers and vulnerable patients - by mid-February.
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A "mutation of concern" has been detected in the variant of coronavirus first identified in the UK, which scientists have described as "a worrying development".
ReplyDeleteBritain has detected 43 cases of the coronavirus featuring these mutations in Bristol and Liverpool, British health minister Matt Hancock said today, adding that new variants meant the government had to act with caution.
"We've also seen 11 cases of mutations of concern in Bristol, and 32 in Liverpool," Mr Hancock told MPs, saying they were additional to the 11 cases of the South African variant that were not linked to international travel.
"We must continue to act with caution, not least because of the renewed challenges posed by new variants of the coronavirus," he said.
The mutation linked to the UK variant, known as E484K, is already present in both South African and Brazilian coronavirus variants and experts believe it could have an impact on the effectiveness of some Covid-19 vaccines.
Laboratory studies have shown that antibodies are less able to bind to a part of the virus known as the spike protein, in order to stop it from unlocking human cells to gain entry.