Blame it on Rio... now 2nd Brazilian strain is in UK (but it’s ‘not as deadly’)

A SECOND Brazilian Covid variant has emerged – and it is already in the UK.

As of last night, at least 11 cases of the ‘P2’ strain of Covid had been identified in Britain.

Experts stressed that this is not considered to be as dangerous as the Brazilian ‘P1’ strain – which was reported this week to have spread to Japan, but has not been found here.

But they admitted the P2 variant contains worrying mutations that could allow it to evade the immune system. It means the new strain, which is spreading at an alarming rate around Rio de Janeiro state, may affect people who have immunity against the original virus.

Scientists are urgently trying to establish whether it might have the power to infect those who have been vaccinated.

Two people in Brazil who had recovered from Covid contracted the virus for a second time after being exposed to P2.

It is not yet known if this was caused by the new mutations, as all Covid survivors have a small chance of reinfection.

They also stressed that P2 has not yet been classed as a ‘variant of concern’.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance last night insisted it would be ‘really quite easy’ to adjust vaccines to deal with mutations in the virus.

But Professor Wendy Barclay, a member of the Sage advisory committee, said: ‘It’s really a critical time now, because this is exactly the time at which we might expect variants to appear because the level of immunity

to the virus across the world is now increasing through natural infection and vaccination.’

A separate scientific body, the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium, last night confirmed that P2 had been identified in several people in the UK.

The variant is understood to have first appeared in the UK on November 14, when it was picked up in a sample sent to the Lighthouse Laboratory in Glasgow.

Laboratories in Cheshire, Milton Keynes and Cambridge have also spotted the variant.

But the fact it has not spread wider in the two months since it first emerged is encouraging.

Public Health England last night said its scientists were analysing P2 – particularly whether vaccination will work against it.

Dr Susan Hopkins, the body’s Covid strategic response director, said: ‘For now, our advice remains the same. Whilst in lockdown, it is important that we stay at home unless it is absolutely essential to go out.’

Public Health England also last night revealed that 47 cases of the South African variant had been identified in the UK.