The Brazil variant
More than 20 million Britons – over a third of UK adults – have now had their first dose of a Covid vaccine, while some 850,000 have had a second jab. Vaccination rates are set to double from this week, raising the prospect of over-40s being inoculated before the end of the month; and data from Public Health England have shown that a single dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine reduces the risk of hospital admission by around 80%.
But hopes of an imminent return to normal life were dented by the detection of a Covid variant from Brazil in the UK. The P1 strain – which studies suggest may be more infectious and resistant to vaccines than other strains – was detected in two people from a household in Gloucestershire, and three others in Scotland. This week, the authorities were racing to identify a sixth person who’d tested positive for the strain but not provided their details on a test registration card. All five cases traced so far have been linked to travel to Brazil.
It sounds like the plot of an apocalyptic thriller, said the Daily Mail. “A mutant strain of a potentially deadly virus emerges from deep in the heart of the Amazon” – then suddenly crops up 5,000 miles away in Britain. Yet this drama is all too real, said The Independent, and it could have been averted had ministers not “dithered” before imposing hotel quarantine rules. The five cases traced so far were in people who’d returned from Brazil before these rules came into force. Fortunately, they had self-isolated at home; but we’re now reliant on the test and trace system to find the last “potential spreader”. It’s a reminder that “vaccination is not a panacea” – and that the easing of lockdown could yet be disrupted by the spread of “troublesome mutations”.
It’s too soon to panic, said The Times. This “is not the first mutation to have arrived from abroad and nor will it be the last: such is the reality of a global pandemic”. Others, like the South African variant that was identified in Britain last month, have been contained by localised “surge testing” in areas with known cases. There’s every chance this one will be, too.