NOT ANOTHER ONE!
Boffins find new variant of COVID bug
THE mutant COVID virus discovered in Kent has mutated AGAIN – into a bug able to evade the immune system.
A professor of outbreak medicine, who is part of a panel that advises the Government, said this is the mutation that is currently “of most concern”.
The new E484K mutation is the same change as has been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants, that are causing international concern.
“The mutation of most concern, E484K, has also occurred spontaneously in the new Kent strain in parts of the country, too,” Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies told BBC radio.
News of the new mutant bug comes as people in areas where the South African coronavirus variant is spreading were warned to “think again” before leaving the house.
Government minister Michelle Donelan said that residents should abide by restrictions “to the letter” given the UK is at a “perilous” stage in the pandemic.
Asked if the advice to those in eight postcodes where cases of the new variant has been found – with seemingly no travel links – is any different to the national measures, she admitted: “It’s not… we’re all in a lockdown.
“But the message is ‘ think again’ just before you go about activities, even for those activities that are within the rules, like essential shopping.
“Do you really need to go for that shopping or have you got enough in? Could you work from home? Could you have that conversation with your employer? It’s about reinforcing the rules that are in place.”
Door-to-door testing for the South African variant has been rolled out in parts of London, Walsall, Broxbourne, Southport, Maidstone and Guildford.
Ministers say there is no evidence variant is any more deadly, but that it is more transmissible.
Dr Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said at a Downing Street briefing that three vaccines trialled showed effectiveness against it at a higher level than the minimum standard set by the World Health Organisation.