Hunt for missing virus case narrows
THE hunt for a missing person infected with a Manaus variant of coronavirus has been narrowed down to 379 households in the south east of England, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told MPs.
To date, six cases of the variant of concern have been found in the UK – three in Scotland and three in England.
A public appeal has been made for one of those people in England to come forward after they took a test in February but left no contact details.
Mr Hancock told the Commons the appeal had resulted in a number of leads and it was thought the affected person took a home test. “We know that five of these six people quarantined at home as they were legally required to do,” he said of the six UK cases. “We’re stepping up our testing and sequencing in south Gloucestershire as a precaution. We have no information to suggest the variant has spread further.
“Unfortunately, one of these six cases completed a test but didn’t successfully complete the contact details. Incidents like this are rare and only occur in around 0.1% of tests. We’ve identified the batch of home test kits in question, our search has narrowed
from the whole country down to 379 households in the south-east of England and we’re contacting each one.
“We’re grateful that a number of potential cases have come forward following the call that we put out over the weekend.
“Our current vaccines have not yet been studied against this variant and we’re working to understand what impact it might have, but we do know that this variant has caused significant challenges in Brazil, so we’re doing all we can to stop the spread of this new variant in the UK, to analyse its effects and to develop an updated vaccine that works on all these variants of concern and protect the progress that we’ve made as a nation.”
Between 25% and 61% of people who have previously had Covid are susceptible to reinfection with the worrying P1 variant, research from the Brazilian city of Manaus has suggested.
A study on the P1 Brazilian variant among people living in Manaus found potentially high levels of reinfection, and that the variant was up to twice as transmissible as earlier strains in the city. British experts have cautioned that the study cannot be used to predict what may happen in the UK, and say it does not suggest that vaccines will not work against the variant.
It comes as the number of weekly registered coronavirus deaths in England and Wales has fallen by more than a quarter to the lowest level since the start of the year. Deaths involving Covid-19 among people aged 80 and over have fallen more steeply in recent weeks than those among younger age groups, the latest ONS figures show.
The Government said a further 343 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, bringing the UK total to 123,296.
There were a further 6,391 lab-confirmed cases of the virus in the UK.
AN 80-YEAR-OLD man was left brimming with gratitude when a complete stranger paid for an entire shopping trolley’s worth of food after his card was declined.
Derek Everett said he went to do his weekly shop for him and his wife at a branch of Sainsbury’s in the Crindau area of Newport on Monday afternoon.
He joined the checkout queue with a full shallow trolley, but once he reached the counter a problem was identified with his card and it was repeatedly declined.
Feeling embarrassed and slightly uncomfortable, Mr Everett said he tried to work out a way of dealing with the problem and was considering trying the cash machine outside.
But at that moment, he said a lady behind him wearing a mask offered to pay using her card and then refused to be reimbursed despite his insistence.
After the payment was made, Mr Everett went outside the store and managed to take out cash to repay the woman but unfortunately she had already left.
Mr Everett said he was lost for words at the generosity and kindness shown to him.
“I apologised to the lady behind me and she said don’t worry use my card,” Mr Everett said.
“I said I beg your pardon and the lady on the checkout said ‘are you sure?’
“She presented her card and immediately paid for it. Then I shot out to the cashpoint and got money out, it worked then, but she had gone.
“It made me feel a little bit uncomfortable but it was great.
“Not so much that she did it but that she was prepared to do it. It wasn’t an inconsiderable amount. It wasn’t just a few pounds.”
Once he returned home, Mr Everett and his family found out the problem was not to do with his accounts, but instead an ongoing issue with transactions from one of his banks.
Mr Everett said the purchase was made shortly after 2pm on Monday and he would like to express his thanks and appreciation to the person.
Mr Everett’s son, Gareth Everett, shared a tweet on Monday expressing his gratitude towards the kind stranger.
“My father is not usually lost for words, but this act of generosity and kindness at a time when he was panicking has left him amazed, and genuinely stunned,” Gareth said.
“So whoever you are, we can’t thank you enough for helping. You have certainly restored our faith in human kindness.
“I hope you see this message so that you realise how much your kindness meant to him.”