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By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Eleven people in different regions
of England have tested positive for the South African
coronavirus variant without having any links to people who have
travelled, prompting mass testing in the areas to contain the
outbreak.
Britain, with the fifth-highest COVID-19 death toll in the
world, has moved to tighten its borders out of concern that new
variants of the virus will undermine its vaccination drive.
To contain the new outbreaks, residents in eight areas of
the country will now be tested whether or not they are showing
any symptoms, a process known as "surge testing".
There are about 10,000 people in each area. Three are in
London, two in the southeast, one in central England, one in the
east and another in the northwest.
The government said on Monday the 11 cases were
self-isolating and contact tracing would help to halt the
spread.
Positive tests in the areas will be sequenced to identify
any further spread of the South African variant, the government
statement said.
All viruses mutate, and scientists have identified several
variants of the coronavirus found to be more transmissible than
the original strain.
Their emergence has raised questions over whether vaccines
will prove as effective in containing them.
Britain said on Jan. 24 it had detected 77 cases of the
South African variant and nine cases of the Brazilian variant,
but said all were linked to travel.
In total, Public Health England said it had now identified
105 cases of the South African variant since Dec 22.
Scientists have said the South African variant appears to be
more transmissible, but there is no evidence it causes more
severe disease. But several laboratory studies have found that
it reduces vaccine and antibody therapy efficacy.
Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology
at the University of Reading, said there was emerging evidence
to suggest the variant was less susceptible to immunity induced
by the current crop of vaccines.
"The discovery of a handful of cases with no links to travel
to Africa, indicates that it might be more widespread in the
community than previously thought," he said.
"This spread, even if small in scale, needs to be brought
under control quickly, so Public Health England's house-to-house
checks, and intensive testing are the right thing to do."
Britain is battling a new wave of COVID-19 turbo-charged by
the emergence in September of a more transmittable variant found
in the southeast of England. The country's official death toll
passed 100,000 last week.
Britain is however making rapid progress in its vaccination
programme, with nearly 9 million people receiving the first shot
of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot.
(Reporting by Kate Holton, Michael Holden and Paul Sandle;
Editing by Estelle Shirbon and Timothy Heritage)
