BRAZIL BUG IS IN SCOTLAND
Three Scots test positive for variant after they fly home via London and Paris
THREE cases of the Brazil variant of Covid-19 have been detected in Scotland after three people flew in to Aberdeen from South America – via London and Paris.
The three Scottish residents tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus after their trip to Brazil.
All three have been self-isolating since their return to the north-east.
The tests were completed in early February and passed to the UK’s advanced sequencing capabilities programme which detected the new variant.
Due to the potential concerns around this variant, other passengers on the flight used by the three individuals from London to Aberdeen are being contacted.
These three cases are not connected to three cases also identified in England.
Health protection teams, including local clinicians, have assessed each case and their contacts and are arranging protective measures for this small number of potentially exposed individuals.
To provide an extra layer of safety, teams are ensuring people who could have been infected by these first-line contacts are also isolated and tested.
This is to ensure all possible precautions are taken as experts learn more about the mutation.
Clinical and trial data continues to be assessed to examine how the new variant may respond to current Covid 19 vaccines. Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “The identification of this new variant is a concern but we are taking every possible precaution.
“This new variant demonstrates how serious Covid is and reinforces the need to minimise the spread of the virus.
“It is now also illegal for anyone to travel to or from Scotland unless it is for an essential reason.
“The Covid vaccination programme is one of three key ways we are working to beat this virus, along with our expanded testing programme to identify cases and break chains of transmission, and the important lockdown restrictions everyone in Scotland must follow.”
Th new variant shares some important mutations with the variant first identified in South Africa.
Scientists believe this variant may be more likely to cause infections in people who have been vaccinated or who had been infected with one of the earlier strains of “wild-type” Covid 19.
The P1 Brazilian variant was first detected in Japan but is most closely associated with the second wave epidemic in Manauas, Brazil.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “This variant may respond less well to current vaccines but at this time there is a high degree of uncertainty and we await clinical and trial data is awaited to understand this better. “