A second new variant of Coronavirus has been discovered in the United Kingdom following the arrival of two people from South Africa. This is highly concerning as the new variant is suspected of fueling the rise in the number of cases in South Africa. Surveillance by Public Health England said it had identified two people who had contracted the new form of the virus after being in contact with travellers in South Africa.
This new variant is yet more transmissible and appears to have mutated further than the UK variant of the virus. It piles yet more pressure on UK ministers who are struggling to cope and deal with the new UK variant of the virus which was first detected in Kent in late September.
Ravi Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at Cambridge University, who has called for the vaccine programme to be accelerated and targeted at hotspots to contain the more transmissible variant said the discovery of the South African variant added fresh urgency to the situation.
“This is really shocking news, we need to step up the vaccinations and think about where we should be targeting it.”
“Anyone in the UK who has been in South Africa in the past fortnight and anyone who is a close contact of someone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight must quarantine immediately, they must restrict all contact with any other person whatsoever.”
That’s according to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Late on Wednesday, the government announced that visitors from South Africa, or those who have transited through the country in the last 10 days, would be barred from entering England from 9am on Christmas Eve and direct flights would be banned.
The ban excludes cargo and freight without passengers, and also does not include British and Irish nationals, visa holders and permanent residents, who can still enter but must self-isolate along with their household for 10 days.
Researchers from Kings College London are still looking in to the different features and attributes of the new variations of the virus to see whether there is anything in them that gives them an advantage over the original virus to see how they can cope with and deal with future cases.
Due to the increasing number of cases of the new variants and the way they are now starting to spread more round the country, even more places are being put in tier four which means they are having more and more restrictions put on them. People are having to celebrate Christmas in a quiet manner as household mixing is being discouraged to avoid the spread of the virus.
People are being encouraged to have as little social contact with other people as possible to avoid causing an increase in the R rate.
Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor at Leeds University’s school of medicine, said: “Clearly variants with increased potential for transmission are a huge concern at present and going forward. However, the crisis in the UK has been growing since the summer and we are in this dreadful position now because of delays and inaction since cases began to increase.
“It is good that action is being taken now to curtail the spread of the new variant, but this must not be used as a distraction from the poor management of the epidemic since the first lockdown ended. The cost of the failure to suppress infections and establish effective testing and tracing over summer is now being counted both in human lives and by the economy.”
The best and most appropriate way to avoid spreading the virus is to follow the correct rules and regulations depending on what tier you live in. This includes doing things such as wearing face coverings, following appropriate social distancing measures and getting vaccinated when you are called by your doctor. All the tests so far show that the vaccine is still affective against the new variants so it is important for as many people as possible to get it when they are called.
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