‘Concerning’ new strains of virus will emerge, warns senior medical adviser

A senior medical adviser to the Government has warned that “concerning” variants of the coronavirus are set to emerge in the future.

Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at the University of Oxford and chairman of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, was speaking after two mutant Covid strains, one originating in South Africa, were found in the UK.

He said: “We have to be ready for future variants like this. This is clearly a pattern that’s emerging.

“That we are going to see different viruses. Some of them will be of concern.”

It also emerged earlier this week that another new variant of coronavirus appeared to have emerged in Nigeria.

However, further investigation would be needed to confirm this, Africa’s leading public health official said.

“It is a separate lineage from the UK and South Africa,” the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters.

He said the Nigeria CDC and the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in that country – Africa’s most populous – would analyse more samples.

“Give us some time. It’s still very early,” he said.

The alert about the apparent new variant was based on two or three genetic sequences, he said.

But that and South Africa’s alert late last week were enough to prompt an emergency meeting of the Africa CDC this week.

The news comes as infections surge again in parts of the

African continent.

The new variant in South Africa is the predominant one there, Mr Nkengasong said, as confirmed infections in the country approach a million. While the variant transmits quickly and viral loads are higher, it is not yet clear whether it leads to a more severe disease, he added.

“We believe this mutation will not have an effect” on the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines to the continent, he said of the South Africa variant.

South Africa’s health minister late on Wednesday announced an “alarming rate of spread”, with more than 14,000 new cases confirmed in the past day, including more than 400 deaths.

The country has more than 950,000 infections and Covid-19 is “unrelenting”, Zwelini Mkhize said.

The African continent has more than 2.5 million confirmed cases, or 3.3 per cent of global cases. Infections across the continent have risen 10.9% over the past four weeks, Mr Nkengasong said, including a 52% increase in Nigeria and 40% in South Africa.

The developments came as a new analysis said schools and universities here may need to close to keep the new UK coronavirus strain under control.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the question of whether schools could stay open was vital.