Concern as four cases of mutated virus come to surface in Scotland

Four cases of a “worrying” Covid variant that may be more transmissible and less easily controlled by current vaccines have been discovered in Scotland.

The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India and features two mutations that could be a cause for concern.

Public Health England reported that 73 cases of the variant have been confirmed in England, in addition to the cases north of the border.

Officials have designated it as a variant under investigation.

Its arrival from India, where Covid rates are soaring – with more than 13.9 million confirmed cases and 172,000 deaths – comes as new figures suggest Covid infections across all parts of the UK have fallen to their lowest level since the autumn.

According to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), around one in 500 people in private households in Scotland were infected with Covid in the week of April 10, falling from 410 – and the lowest figure since last October.

Scotland has recorded three deaths of coronavirus patients and 204 positive tests in the past 24 hours, according to latest figures.

In England, the estimate is one in 480, down from 340 the previous week, and the lowest figure since the week to September 19, 2020.

Despite those positive figures, Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the Indian variant features two “escape mutations” – E484Q and L452R – that “are causing people to be concerned”.

He said: “There’s laboratory evidence that both are escape mutations. Basically, applying what we know about other human coronaviruses would suggest this is going to be even less controlled by vaccine.

“But we don’t know that for certain at the moment.”

It is feared the mutations may increase its ability to evade the body’s immune responses – and that it may also be capable of infecting the body more easily.

This means it could be more infectious or less susceptible to vaccines.

Professor Hunter told the Guardian: “These two escape mutations working together could be a lot more problematic than the South African and Brazilian variants, which have only got one escape mutation.

“It might be even less controlled by vaccine than the Brazilian and South African variants.”

Yesterday, Downing Street defended the use of rapid lateral flow tests despite reports that officials have raised concerns about their accuracy.

“Evidence suggests they are even less controlled by vaccine