- On Saturday, England’s top medical official announced that the UK has identified a new variant of the coronavirus that “can spread more quickly” than previous strains of the virus.
- So far, a collection of evidence suggests that the new strain “has a significant and substantial increase in transmissibility,” said Professor Chris Whitty, chief English doctor.
- So far “there is no evidence” to suggest it causes more serious illnesses, more hospitalizations or affects coronavirus treatments and vaccines, he said.
Britain’s top medical official announced on Saturday that the UK had identified a new variant of the coronavirus that could “spread faster” than previous strains of the virus, leading Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose new restrictions on some parties. of the country to control its spread. .
“We’re learning as we move forward, but we already know enough, more than enough, to be sure we need to act now,” Johnson said during a press conference Saturday where he set new restrictions in London and elsewhere. of England before the Christmas holidays.
“When the virus changes its method of attack, we have to change our method of defense,” Johnson said.
The UK government on Monday announced the new strain of coronavirus after an increase in cases in the south and east of England. Just over 1,100 cases of COVID-19 with the new variant had been identified as of Sunday, according to a Public Health England statement.
Now, it is believed the new strain could be up to 70 percent more communicable than the original strain of the disease, Johnson said Saturday, adding that it appears to be driving the rapid spread of infections. Johnson urged residents to refrain from traveling and stay in the area to prevent the new strain from moving around the country and abroad.
The UK reports approximately 24,061 new cases of COVID-19 each day, based on a weekly average, an increase of 40% compared to a week ago, according to a CNBC data analysis compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“These are early data and are subject to review, but they are the best we have right now and we need to act on the information as we have it because it is now spreading very quickly,” Johnson said.
Professor Chris Whitty, chief English doctor, said at the press conference that “viruses mutate all the time”. Seasonal flu changes every year and there have already been other new variants of the coronavirus identified in countries like Spain, according to Public Health England.
What needs to be answered is whether the new strain is transmitted more easily, makes people sicker, and changes the way someone’s immune system responds to the virus if they were already infected or vaccinated, Whitty said.
To date, a collection of evidence from genetic, frequency, and laboratory studies suggests that the new strain “has a significant and substantial increase in transmissibility,” Whitty said. However, so far there is no evidence to indicate that the new strain will cause a higher mortality rate.
Health officials believe the new variant first appeared in mid-September in London or Kent, and by mid-November it is believed to have caused approximately 28% of cases in London and other parts of the south-east of England. , said Whitty.
Now those numbers are much higher, he said. In London, last week’s data suggest the new variant has accounted for more than 60% of new cases, Whitty said.
“What it tells us is that this new variant is not only moving fast, but it is increasing its transmission capacity, but it is becoming the dominant variant. It is surpassing all the others in terms of transmission,” he said. .
Still, “there is no evidence” that they would cause more serious illness, more hospitalizations, or “more problems than the other virus,” Whitty said. While there is reason to suspect the new variant may alter someone’s immune response to the disease, there is nothing to indicate that it has been so far, he said.
“Our working hypothesis, currently, of all scientists, is that the vaccine response should be appropriate for this virus,” he said. “This obviously needs to be taken into account in the future and we need to be vigilant about that.”
The UK has alerted the World Health Organization and will continue to analyze data on the new strain.