[ad_1]
Seventy-seven cases of a new variant related to an increase in Covid-19 cases in India have been found in the UK as the government seeks to strengthen its defenses against strains that could bypass existing vaccines.
The cases were denounced by the government Thursday evening, along with 56 new cases of the variant first identified in South Africa, bringing the total number of confirmed cases since it was first detected in the UK to 600.
Earlier this week the health authorities increase overvoltage testing for the variant discovered in South Africa in four London districts and on Friday extended it to areas of Birmingham and Sandwell.
Variant B.1.617, first identified in India, is currently classified by UK health authorities as a “variant investigated” and not as a “variant of concern”, such as P.1 from Brazil and 501Y.V2 of South Africa, but concerns have grown over the strain in recent weeks as the virus has spread rapidly to regions of India.
It was first detected in the UK on February 22, according to UK genomic sequencing databases, and some scientists are concerned that it appears to be more infectious and more resistant to the body’s immune response than other variants that were in circulation in India.
The country is suffering a devastating second wave of Covid-19, with a volume of cases far exceeding last year’s pandemic peak and a vaccine deployment.
India is currently not on the UK’s “red list” for travel which requires visitors returning to Britain to be quarantined in a hotel for 10 days.
Christina Pagel, a professor of operational research at University College London and a member of Independent Sage, a group convened as an alternative to the government’s top scientific advisory group, called on the government to put India on the list.
On Friday, the government said it kept the list “under constant review” and “will not hesitate to introduce tougher restrictions and add countries if we believe it is necessary.”
B.1.617 has two mutations around the ear protein, which the virus uses to enter human cells, although they are slightly different from those seen in P.1 and 501Y.V2.
The first mutation in the ear is called E484Q, which is different, but in a location similar to a concerning mutation called E484K, which is found in several variants of concern. Scientists are investigating whether this mutation has a similar impact on the virus’s ability to infect human hosts.
Downing Street said that despite outbreaks of the new variant, he remained confident its roadmap for relieving coronavirus restrictions in England. From 12 April, pubs and restaurants with outdoor facilities have been reopened and personal care services such as hairdressers and nail salons can be resumed.
“The prime minister has said before that he sees nothing in the data suggesting that we cannot move forward at the pace set in the roadmap,” a spokesman said. “At that point we set the four tests we would keep looking at as we progressed down the roadmap.”
More recent data on coronavirus infection are likely to bolster confidence in the government’s decision.
According to the weekly Office of National Statistics, coronavirus infections have fallen in all regions of the UK. In England, an estimated 112,600 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the week ending April 10, equivalent to about 1 in 480 people, compared with 1 in 340 people the previous week.
Infection rates decreased in all age groups except high school children and those aged 50 to 69 years, where the trend was more difficult to determine.
[ad_2]
Source link
