An emergency service worker collects Covid-19 test kits during a massive door-to-door testing operation in Maidstone, UK, on Tuesday, February 2, 2021.
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LONDON – The UK is struggling to contain the spread of additional coronavirus mutations, with the most worrying variant first discovered in South Africa being seen spontaneously emerging in different parts of the country.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the country had to “fall hard” on the South African variant after the notification of 105 cases, and 11 of those cases had nothing to do with international travel.
As such, the UK has launched an improved testing program for around 80,000 people living in areas where numerous cases of mutation have been found. Door-to-door testing is offered and positive cases will be evaluated to see if they are caused by the South African variant.
People in these areas have been told to consider limiting the time they spend away from home while health authorities fight to prevent the spread of another more infectious variant. A mutation, now known as a “British mutation”, has already become the dominant strain in many parts of the country.
Earlier in the week, Public Health England published another technical session warning that a handful of coronavirus cases of the variant first found in the UK had mutated even further to include the E484K mutation, which was first seen. once in the South African variant.
Mutations in any virus are normal; viruses mutate all the time. But experts and policymakers are concerned about mutations that allow the virus to spread much faster.
The South African variant had been of even more concern to experts who were concerned that coronavirus vaccines developed over the past year might not be as effective against it; he had also worried that the South African variant could evade antibody drugs.
Vaccine manufacturers have said there is little evidence that their vaccines will be ineffective in the face of new variants and say they should be able to adapt their vaccines to new variants in several weeks, if necessary.
On Wednesday, British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and German biotechnology firm CureVac announced a € 150 million ($ 180 million) deal to develop Covid vaccines targeting several variants of a single product. Partners hope to launch these vaccines in 2022.
The UK vaccination program continues to gain momentum and is on track to have vaccinated its four main priority groups (over 70s, residents and nursing home staff, front-line health workers and social assistance and clinically extremely vulnerable) totaling about 15 million people, by mid-February.
As of Feb. 1, more than 9.6 million people had received a first dose of vaccine and just under 500,000 had received two doses, according to government data.