LONDON (Reuters) – Up to six cases of a highly transmissible coronavirus variant first identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus have been detected in Britain for the first time, British health officials said on Sunday.
Three cases were found in England and another three in Scotland.
Two of the three cases found in England came from a home in the southern part of Gloucestershire that had a history of travel to Brazil. A third case, currently unrelated, has not yet been identified, Public Health England said.
The risk to the wider community of Gloucestershire cases was considered low, but as a precaution, officials moved quickly to deploy tests and increased the sequencing of positive coronavirus samples in the area, PHE said.
The Scottish cases were unrelated to those in England.
The P.1 variant detected in Manaus shares some mutations with a variant first identified in South Africa and may respond less well to current vaccines, PHE said.
Susan Hopkins, PHE’s strategic response director for COVID-19, said Britain’s advanced gene sequencing capabilities meant it found more variants and mutations than many other countries.
Late last year, Britain detected a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus that is believed to have originated near London and caused a sharp rise in cases in the country and beyond.
“The important thing to remember is that the COVID-19, regardless of the variant, extends in the same way. That means measures to prevent it from spreading don’t change, ”Hopkins said.
The PHE and the official testing and tracking system were tracking all passengers on the Swiss Air LX318 flight from Sao Paulo to London via Zurich, which landed at London Heathrow on 10 February, to test them and their homes.
The three Scottish cases were identified in people returning to the country via Paris and London who were isolated during the required ten-day period.
“Due to possible concerns around this variant, other passengers are being contacted on the flight used by the three individuals from London to Aberdeen,” the Scottish government said.
Written by William Schomberg; Edited by Jane Merriman and Frances Kerry