FLAW & BORDER
PM accused of ‘unforgivable incompetence’ after dithering over quarantine lets lethal virus variant into UK
BORIS Johnson was accused of “unforgivable incompetence” last night as a hunt got underway for a patient infected with the Manaus coronavirus variant from Brazil.
Officials believe the patient gave a positive test on February 12 or 13 but failed to complete a tracing form – meaning they have effectively vanished.
Public Health England has identified six UK cases of the P1 strain first detected in Brazilian city Manaus.
Two are from the same household in South Gloucestershire after one person returned from Brazil on February 10 – just before the hotel quarantine rule came into force on February 15.
Three cases involve Scottish residents who flew to Aberdeen from Brazil via Paris and London, who all tested positive while self-isolating.
It is unclear if the missing patient slipped into the UK before the hotel quarantine system came into force or contracted the virus here. At yesterday’s
No10 briefing Health Secretary Matt Hancock was asked if the delay in introducing hotel quarantine had put lives at risk. He replied: “No.”
It is feared vaccines will be less effective on the new variant.
Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “Despite being warned time and again, they have failed to act to protect our borders against emerging Covid variants and could put at risk the gains from the vaccine.” Labour leader Keir Starmer said: “It demonstrates the slowness of the Government to close off even the major routes, but also the unwillingness to confront the fact that the virus doesn’t travel by direct flights.” UK nationals or residents have continued to be allowed to return from Brazil using indirect fights. The requirement to quarantine for 10 days at a hotel was only triggered on February 15 – about a month after concerns about the variant became widespread.
PM Boris Johnson, visiting a primary school in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, said the UK had “one of the toughest border regimes anywhere in the world”.
He said: “We don’t have any reason at the present time to think that our vaccines are ineffective against these new variants of all types.”
As surge testing began in sites across Bristol after the discovery of the Gloucestershire cases of the Manaus variant, scientists warned research was
needed to explore whether the mutation could have an impact on the vaccinations.
A total of 20,275,451 people have now received a first dose of a vaccine.
At the No10 briefing, Public Health England strategic response director Dr Susan Hopkins said: “These and other mutations are associated with reduced impact of antibodies against the virus in laboratory experiments. We will need to await further clinical and trial data to understand the vaccine effectiveness against this variant.”
Professor of Immunology Danny Altmann, of Imperial College London, said: “Looking at data on how well this variant gets neutralised, it’s not that all immunity is gone, it’s that the vaccines look so much less potent.”
Tony Smith, a former director-general of UK Border Force, told of the confusion officials dealing with international arrivals at Britain’s frontiers now faced trying to verify that negative Covid-19 tests were actually genuine.
He told the BBC there were “no clear standards” for negative tests and “no international framework for us to be able to verify them”.
The PM tried to quash fears that the Manaus variant could derail his plans to lift lockdown measures and insisted schools would reopen on Monday.
Mr Johnson said: “What we are doing is embarking on a journey, a one-way road map to freedom.
“Education is the priority, getting all schools open on March 8.”
The Office for National Statistics found infection rates in teachers were similar to those in the general population.
Chief investigator Dr Shamez Ladhani, consultant paediatrician at Public Health England, said: “The benefits outweigh the risks, but the risks are not zero.”
The UK’s Covid-19 death toll climbed by 104 yesterday to 122,953, with 5,455 more cases and 1,112 hospitalisations.