Measures, including improved contact tracing and testing, were put in place after the UK identified dozens of cases of the ‘Delta plus’ variant.
Speaking this afternoon, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson said the government and Public Health England put the precautions in place when the new coronavirus variant had been identified.
He added that 41 cases had been found in the UK and “improved contact tracing, testing and isolation” were among the measures taken.
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Variant cases were identified in the East Midlands, London, the North West, the South East, the South West and the West Midlands as of June 14.
He was first sequenced in the UK on April 26, and the first five people identified with him had been in contact with people who had traveled through or from Nepal and Turkey.
These cases all occurred in the West Midlands.
The Delta plus variant is similar to the original Delta strain, with an additional mutation called K417N.
Indian officials have said the strain appears to be more transmissible than the base Delta – or B.1.617.2 – variant.
The country has called the strain a “variant of concern” after the discovery of 16 cases in the state of Maharashtra.
However, François Balloux, professor of computer systems biology and director of University College London Genetics Institute, says there is less to worry about.
Prof Balloux said: “Cases of the Delta plus variant in the UK remain at a very low level. The first case was observed on April 28, 2021. The lineage has remained at a very low frequency since then with no signs of ‘expansion.”
The scientist added that the low number of cases of this variant wherever it has appeared “strongly suggests that it is not more transmissible than its ancestor Delta.”
Public Health England’s latest variant report – released on Friday but only recently came to attention – confirms 41 of the …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-23 14:42:00
