Kent variant of virus now ‘dominant’ strain

ALL SAMPLED NEWARK AND SHERWOOD CASES ARE B117 MUTATION

THE more transmissible Kent variant of Covid-19 is now the “dominant” strain in Nottinghamshire, public health experts say.

Scientists have labelled the new variant – which is reported to have arisen from Kent as early as September last year – the B117 mutation.

It spreads roughly twice as fast as the original strain of coronavirus and is now the dominant strain in Nottinghamshire as well as the rest of the country – and, indeed, many other countries across the world.

Jonathan Gribbin, director of public health for Nottinghamshire, said: “In Nottinghamshire now we see that the variant scientists called B117, that’s what some of us have called the Kent variant, is now the dominant strain right across the country and Nottinghamshire is no exception to that.

“In fact, if we look in Newark and Sherwood, last week, the positive cases that were sampled, all of them, 100 percent of them, turned out to be the B117 strain.”

He added: “In Newark and Sherwood, we have seen a week-on-week increase.

“I can confirm that we have not received signal from Public Health England of any occurrences of the South African variant, but we can confirm the B117 variant is now the dominant strain.

“The reason I mention it is to remind you that this strain is much more transmissible than what was in general circulation in the autumn.

“That means we have to apply the brakes even harder to reduce the spread of the virus.”

Nervtag – the Government’s new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group – says the Kent strain is a “variant of concern”.

In tests, the variant is said to have reduced the effectiveness of the body’s antibodies.

The current vaccines, however, will still prevent serious illness, but may not work quite so well.

Mr Gribbin said the infection rates and case numbers across the county as a whole were still not quite where medical authorities would like them to be.

He emphasised the need to stick to the rules – even more so amid the news of the increasing prevalence of the Kent variant.

He added: “Across the county, although in many areas we see reductions in rates, there are still some districts where we are seeing some increases and others where the rates seem to be bumping along on some sort of plateau.

“We are not yet seeing the really

strong sustained reduction.

“So as well as thanking people across Nottinghamshire for the fantastic work they have put in, I really need to encourage you to look forward.

“Along with that, please keep following all of the rules.

“It’s really by doing that we can secure some of those good things in the future. “The situation in Nottinghamshire as a whole, the rates are reducing slower than the rates in other parts of the country. “We have to work harder as a community to achieve the same level of reduction. “Right now we need to keep going with all the rules.”

We are not yet seeing the really sustained reduction [in rates] Jonathan Gribbin