RE: Worrying new variant9 May 2021 18:32
The BBC website reports:-
It will be a couple of weeks before we know for sure. The message is clear - this needs to be taken seriously, but there is no need to panic.
It is tempting to conclude that because there is now evidence this variant is more infectious and because cases have risen rapidly in the UK, this marks the start of the rise of this Indian variant, but there are some good reasons why we should not jump to that conclusion.
The rapid rise in cases is being linked to an increase in international travel from India ahead of the country being put on the "red list".
There are some early signs in the data, Public Health England sources say, that the increase may be coming to an end, meaning that it may reflect that rise in travel rather than significant community spread.
Two key factors are in our favour - the vaccines appear to work just as well against this variant as the dominant virus circulating in the UK (although uptake in the Indian community is a little lower) plus there are still significant social distancing restrictions in place that should help to limit spread.
Lots of testing and contact tracing in different areas are taking place - and some surge testing is expected to be announced later in areas where there is most concern.