Vaccine-resistant deadly variant is matter of when not if, warns WHO expert
A DEADLY Covid variant that can beat the current vaccines is a matter of “when, not if”, a leading expert at the World Health Organisation has warned.
With India, Brazil and other countries gripped by surges driven by new mutations, Dr David Nabarro said the disease was proving “ferocious” and Britain should not relax distancing measures.
“I expect that variants will appear in different parts of the world that are capable of beating the protection offered by vaccines,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not the case of if, but when. We can beat it, but it means maintaining the physical distance and wearing masks, and being good about isolating.
“We’re going to have to go on treating [the virus] with respect, I’m afraid, for quite a lot of months to come.”
Boris Johnson was expected to warn at a press conference tonight that social distancing measures must remain.
A total of 379 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending April 9 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the ONS — the lowest number since the week ending October 2.
Britain’s infection numbers have dropped since the Kent variation caused record numbers of deaths in January. Other countries in Europe and elsewhere are now gripped by surges linked to the Kent and the South African mutations, which has appeared in parts of south London.
A row broke out over whether the Government took too long to put India on the “red list” of countries.
Professor Sir Mark Walport, former chief scientific adviser to the Government, told BBC Breakfast the decision may have come “a bit too late”.
He said the India mutation had a second change in the spike protein “which may mean that it’s able to be a bit more effective at escaping an immune response, either a natural one or vaccine-induced one, so there’s good reasons for wanting to keep it out of the country if at all possible”. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson defended the delay until Friday in implementing the travel ban, telling Sky News: “It’s standard practice to give people a sort of short window in order to be able to manage their affairs.”
Former foreign secretary Lord Hague told Times Radio: “I would err on the side of putting countries on red lists faster than in some recent cases.”
He emphasised that he was not criticising the Government because he had not seen the evidence, but “hoped” that the decision was not delayed because of the Prime Minister’s planned visit, which was cancelled yesterday.
Immigration staff said officers at airports were seeing “thousands of fake pre-departure tests” carried by passengers trying to get into the UK.
Dr Nabarro said border measures could slow down the virus but not stop it. “Last week, there were more cases than ever before during the pandemic, according to my numbers,” he said. “That means this thing is still ferocious.”
The Imperial College expert said vaccines will be modified routinely to “keep track” of the new variants.
But he urged: “I just would like everybody to understand, we’ve still got a lot of work to do to get the pandemic in the box, and to shut the box. We’ve got to keep the defences up.”