Confirmation mutant Covid strain is here
SCIENTISTS have confirmed Leicester as one of 57 areas across the country where the new mutant strain of coronavirus has been detected.
The variant of the virus is not thought to be more harmful but is understood to be 70 per cent more transmittable and caused a spike in cases in the South East of England and London that led to Tier 4 restrictions and a government clampdown on Christmas gatherings,
The Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) monitoring group which identified the significance of the VUI-202012/01 has now revealed the full extent of its spread so far with cases here as well as in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.
The strain has also been identified at Upper Hambleton, near Oakham.
These cases could only be a snapshot of the real picture as not all Covid-19 patients have samples taken so their virus can have its genome sequenced.
Experts are analysing 3,000 samples suspected of being the new variant.
Public Health England had only previously announced 1,000 confirmed cases.
Jeffrey Barrett, lead statistical geneticist at COG-UK, said there was a time lag so the data was from the first week of December, when England came out of the second national lockdown.
He said: “They’re relatively small numbers but I think it is important to be aware it is certainly not the case this is just completely geographically constrained to what is the current Tier 4 area.”
The new variant led to London and parts of southern and eastern England being rushed into the Tier 4 regime at the weekend, effectively cancelling Christmas plans and imposing measures similar to previous national lockdowns.
Dr Barrett said more up-to-date data from community testing also found one of the mutations of this variant.
He said: “It is certainly not isolated in one place, it has begun to spread to many places.”
Earlier this week it was reported that public health directors here had been briefed the new strain was likely to already be present.
They urged people to be more stringent with social distancing, hand washing and face coverings to try to prevent it getting out of control.