The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Leitch warns of a Covid ‘setback’
There are currently around 20 to 30 cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus in Scotland, the country’s national clinical director has said.
Professor Jason Leitch said work is under way to find out more about the strain as he warned a variant worse than the Kent variant “would set us back”.
The coronavirus variant B.1.617.2 first identified in India has been designated as a “variant of concern” by Public Health England (PHE) because it is thought to be at least as transmissible as the variant detected in Kent last year, known as B117, which is now dominant in the UK.
PHE has said there is currently “insufficient evidence” to indicate that any of the variants recently detected in India cause more severe disease or make the vaccines available any less effective.
Prof Leitch told the BBC that 20 to 30 cases of the variant have been detected in Scotland, and they are in a number of locations.
He said: “They are in a few places, some of that is travel, most of it has been connected with inward travel and then of course spread within a group from that initial seeding. In the north of England they’ve got more of it and it’s spreading faster.
“We’re a little bit unsure about the nature of this individual variant, it’s at least as transmissible as the Kent variant, we hope it’s not worse, but we’re having to do lots of science to find out.
“That’s one of the big concerns, we’ve talked about that for months, a variant worse than Kent would set us back.”
Prof Leitch urged people to be careful as coronavirus restrictions in Scotland ease further next week as he warned “we’re not completely out of the woods”.
Meanwhile Boris Johnson added more detail to his confirmation that there will be an
independent public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, starting in spring next year.
Held under the Inquiries Act, it will have wideranging statutory powers, including compelling evidence and public evidence.
The inquiry will be UKwide and the prime minister said work is currently under way with the devolved administrations to establish its heads of terms.
It comes as a damning report from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO), said a quicker
international response could have stopped the 2019 Covid-19 outbreak in China becoming a global catastrophe.
Mr Johnson said: “Amid such tragedy the state has an obligation to examine its actions as rigorously and as candidly as possible, and to learn every lesson for the future – which is why I’ve always said when the time is right there should be a full and independent inquiry.
“So, I can confirm today that the government will establish an independent public inquiry on a statutory basis, with full powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 – including the ability to compel the production of all relevant materials and take oral
evidence in public under oath.”
He added: “Every part of our United Kingdom has suffered the ravages of this virus, and every part of the state has pulled together to do battle against it, and if we are to recover as one ‘Team UK’ – as we must – then we should also learn lessons together in the same spirit.
“So, we will consult the devolved administrations before finalising the scope and detailed arrangements so that this inquiry can consider all key aspects of the UK response.
“This process will place the state’s actions under the microscope and we should be mindful of the scale of that undertaking and the resources required to do it properly.”