Variant poses serious challenges – expert
The new Covid-19 variant found in the UK is set to become more prevalent across the world due to its more transmissible nature, an epidemiologist says.
Six cases of the recently identified UK variant have been found in New Zealand’s managed isolation facilities over the past three days.
Professor Michael Baker said the new strain was always going to make its way here.
‘‘It was inevitable – because once it comes a dominant strain, like it has in the UK, people coming here will obviously bring it with them. This new variant will become dominant all over the world over the next couple of weeks and months because it’s more infectious.’’
He said if there was community transmission with the new strain in New Zealand it would be harder to control. ‘‘We’ve seen figures that it is up to 50 to 70 per cent more infectious – that means a higher reproduction number, which means it would be harder to contain an outbreak if one occurs.
‘‘We really want to avoid going into a lockdown, but that could easily happen if an outbreak happens with the new variant.’’
On Sunday, the government announced that from January 15, people arriving from America and the United Kingdom will need to show they’ve tested negative less than 72 hours before departing.
However, many travellers were already taking pre-flight coronavirus tests as a requirement for some transit countries, Baker said.
New Zealanders in the UK are not allowed to transit through Japan, China or Hong Kong, and currently need a negative test before transiting through Singapore.
Baker said the new requirement was an inevitable shift in policy. ‘‘Almost all airline routes into New Zealand require testing before you travel through them, so I’m not sure if this new requirement will change much for people trying to travel here,’’ Baker said.
‘‘We have several hundred people travelling here each day and lots are from countries where the pandemic is out of control and it might get more intense over the next couple of weeks.’’
He said it made sense for the government to review standards at the border. ‘‘Hopefully the predeparture test will encourage people to take more precautions before they get on the flight – that would mean basically limiting your social contacts, wearing mask and having a period of quarantine at home before you get on the plane to New Zealand.’’