MUTANT COVID STRAIN FOUND IN SCOTLAND
Warning as cases of Brazilian variant confirmed by health chiefs
A HIGHLY contagious Brazilian variant of deadly Covid-19 has been found in Scotland, officials warned last night.
Three people who returned to the Grampian area from Brazil via Paris and London have tested positive for the P1 strain and have been forced to isolate.
Public health officials are now desperately trying to get hold of other passengers who were on the flight from London.
The virus mutation – linked to Manaus, in Brazil – is ‘of concern’ as it may spread more rapidly and respond less well to vaccines.
all three people found to be infected had travelled together, then self-isolated together in managed accommodation provided by their employer on their return to Scotland. None had symptoms when they travelled.
Since testing positive in early February, they have self-isolated for the required ten days.
health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: ‘The identification of this new variant is a concern, but we are taking every possible precaution.
‘we have identified these cases thanks to our use of advanced sequencing capabilities
which means we are finding more variants and mutations than many other countries and are therefore able to take action quickly.
‘This new variant demonstrates how serious Covid is and reinforces the need to minimise the spread of the virus.
‘We would encourage everyone across the country to adhere to the necessary public health restrictions by staying at home except for essential purposes as this is the single best way of staying safe and stopping the spread of this 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.
‘These three strands – following expert advice and guidance to suppress the virus, using our expanded testing programme to identify cases and break chains of transmission and rolling out vaccination as fast as supplies allow – are the three critical actions that will see us move, step by step, to protect the public, save lives and a brighter year ahead.’
The detection of the P1 variant sparked an enhanced public health response.
Samples from any passenger who tests positive or develops symptoms will be sequenced to determine if they have the new variant.
Health protection teams have assessed each of the cases and their contacts, with extra protective measures for those who have been potentially exposed. Anyone who could have been infected is being isolated and tested.
The teams are also ensuring people who could have been infected by these contacts are isolated and tested. This is not standard procedure but is being carried out in this ‘exceptional circumstance’, health officials say.
A further three unconnected cases have also been identified in England. Though further research is needed, there are concerns that existing vaccines may be less effective against the Brazil strain.
The World Health Organisation has been informed of the P1 cases.
In a statement, NHS Grampian health board said: ‘NHS Grampian is moving to reassure people in the region. Health protection specialists have assessed the cases and, as part of the Test and Protect strategy, their close contacts have been followed up and are being offered Covid-19 testing as usual.
‘As an additional safety measure, the health protection team are also working to identify those with whom the close contacts may have been in contact. These people are best described as the contacts of contacts. All will be offered a Covid-19 test.
‘This is not standard procedure but is being undertaken in this exceptional circumstance to be absolutely sure all possible precautions are being taken. The majorhere ity of people in Grampian should be reassured that they will not be directly affected by these cases.
‘Currently there is no evidence that we have community transmission of this variant in Scotland but we continue to monitor all variants and will take any public health actions necessary.’
NHS Scotland national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said: ‘We have no evidence of community transmission of this variant first found in Brazil but we are vigilant and we need everyone to follow the safety measures.’
The positive tests will fuel the row between Holyrood and Westminster over whether quarantine rules should have been introduced earlier and included all countries – not just those from a ‘red list’ of 33 nations, which includes Brazil.
Labour accused the Government of being ‘reckless’ by taking weeks to set up quarantine hotels. The policy was officially announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel on January 27 but it did not come into effect until February 15.
Labour shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds repeated calls for hotel quarantine to apply to all arrivals from overseas.
In Scotland, the rule applies to all international travellers. The lack of a pan-UK approach means that arrivals from non-red list countries can land at airports in England before driving across the Border to Scotland to dodge quarantine.
The chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, Labour MP Yvette Cooper, said: ‘This troubling development shows the weaknesses in the Government’s Covid border measures.’
‘Exceptional circumstance’
NEWS that the first cases of the Brazilian variant of Covid-19 have been detected in Scotland will understandably make the public feel very nervous. Above anything, they will be deeply anxious about anything that might suddenly alter the speed and direction of any route map out of lockdown.
Furthermore, it really emphasises that we simply cannot afford to let our guard down in the fight against this disease for a moment.
After all, we have been given to believe this particular variant is of a highly contagious type and could therefore spread rapidly if left unchecked.
In that sense, it is similar to the Kent variant, which has had people very exercised.
Covid-19 has a high mutation rate, like flu, so it would be amazing if there were no variants. In fact, there have been lots of variants and most of them simply die out.
At the same time, we need to remember that the original virus was pretty nasty to start with and killed people quite easily in certain age groups, so these variants need to be taken seriously. Allowing them to run out of control would be serious.
Nevertheless, the mere fact that these three cases of the Brazilian strain have been uncovered should not be, in itself, unduly alarming. Indeed, knowing about it is good news in the sense that we have been looking for it and we found it. Twenty years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to find that variant because we wouldn’t have had the technology.
WhAT is more, having found it, the Scottish Government can implement the appropriate public measures and crack down hard on this strain to ensure it does not get the chance to spread.
Whenever one of these variants appears, like the South African one before it, that has been the policy. It will mean coming down hard with steep restrictions on those people who have got it, not that it is their fault, but it is vital that we ensure they do not spread it to anyone else.
There will be extensive efforts under way now under Test and Protect procedures to trace anyone who might have come into contact with these three people, either during their journey to Scotland or once they arrived home, to ensure that we don’t get a big outbreak cause by this variant.
As a result, we should not regard the mere fact that the variant is here as an imminent disaster. Thanks to the UK’s genome sequencing programme, we have been able to fingerprint the virus, rather like you would fingerprint a criminal suspect, which means we can find the virus and where it’s come from, and then do something about it.
This happened in the first wave of the virus, when it was discovered through genome sequencing that most of the cases in Scotland came from mainland Europe and not China. The initial idea was that if we stop people from Wuhan spreading the virus, then we would be on the safe side.
Well, the virus did not come directly to Scotland from Wuhan; most of the Scottish strains can be traced to Spain, France and Italy. It was people coming back from skiing holidays and that type of thing.
We managed to get a grip on it and then it moved up a gear in October. Quite a few of those strains also came from Europe, although quite a few came from England. So we could track where the virus had come from and confirm how it spreads; we know most people don’t transmit the virus but a few do.
We know there are hotspots of transmissibility, such as student halls of residence, where there’s lots of socialising and shared bathrooms and kitchens; and meat factories, where the lower temperature suits the virus and helps it get about.
There was a spike around Christmas when the cold weather helped the virus get about and we know that flu also usually peaks in January.
This seasonal effect is one reason why the public ought to retain a sense of perspective about this new Brazilian variant. I don’t believe it is going to run wild for two reasons; for one thing the weather is going to start warming up, and the better weather is not going to help a virus that likes the cold.
SECONDLy the big difference between now and the beginning of the year is we have a substantial number of people immunised and the ability of this variant to cause serious infection, as far as we know, is impeded by having the vaccine.
The bottom line, though, remains the same; it is absolutely vital that we all remain vigilant about hygiene and observing the rules.
It doesn’t matter whether the aim is to protect yourself from the Brazilian variant, or the South African one or the Kent one; the key is for us all to stay safe and protect each other.
Professor Pennington is emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University
IT IS now a year since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Scotland and life has changed beyond recognition.
From supermarket panic buying to working from home, the pandemic has forced everyone to live differently.
The first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Scotland on March 1, 2020, in a man from Tayside who had recently travelled from Italy.
On March 11, the first community transmission was confirmed and two days later the first patient died after contracting Covid-19.
Schools closed and public transport launched restricted timetables. On March 23, the UK went into lockdown and people could leave home only for limited reasons, such as food shopping, exercise once a day, medical need and travelling to work when essential.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said staying at home was ‘the only way of saving lives’.
With case numbers growing and fears the NHS would be overwhelmed, on April 20 an emergency hospital, the NHS Louisa Jordan, opened at the SEC in Glasgow. It has not been used for virus patients but is being utilised for outpatients, to take pressure off the NHS.
The first step to greater freedom again came on May 29 when people could meet one other household outdoors.
During June and July, they could meet indoors, too, and restaurants, pubs, hair salons and museums reopened. But life was far from normal, with face masks mandatory on public transport and in shops.
In August pupils returned to class, in October Scotland moved into ‘levels’ of restriction then, on December 8, the start of the vaccination programme brought hope. By then more than 5,000 had died.
Over Christmas, families formed ‘bubbles’, leading to a spike in
cases and new year brought a new lockdown.
Experts in the Regional Infectious Diseases Unit at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh became the first to care for a Covid patient when he was admitted on March 1 last year.
Dr Oliver Koch, consultant in infectious diseases, NHS Lothian, said: ‘When I took the call, I was at a social gathering and it seemed unbelievable because I was surrounded by so many people. I knew in that instant that life as we knew it would change... adrenaline and adapting current practices got us through those early months.’
He added: ‘[Since] there have been a lot of advances, new treatments have emerged. The NHS has demonstrated amazing adaptability.
‘There are good reasons to be optimistic. I don’t think we will ever eradicate Covid-19, but we are beginning to see the end in sight.’
One year on, the country is again in lockdown, 9,347 people have died and more than 1.5million have had their first dose of a vaccine.
The stay at home order will remain until April 5, but more pupils could return to class from March 15 and it is expected the levels system will return from April 26.