http://www.bbc.com/news/health-55889391
South Africa variant: Urgent Covid testing after community cases found
Published20 hours ago
Share
Taking a swab at testing centre
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
Around 80,000 people in England will be offered urgent tests for the
South Africa coronavirus variant after cases with no links to travel
were found.
Residents aged 16 and over in eight areas across Surrey, London, Kent,
Hertfordshire, Southport and Walsall are being asked to take tests,
regardless of symptoms.
The health secretary said the UK must come down "hard" on the variant .
Previous cases in the UK were connected to South Africa.
But random checks found 11 cases that could not be linked to
international travel.
Matt Hancock told a Downing Street news conference on Monday that there
was "currently no evidence" to suggest the South African variant was
"any more severe, but we need to come down on it hard, and we will".
South Africa coronavirus variant: What's the risk?
How worrying are the new variants?
Scientists play down 'more deadly variant' claim
How will mass testing help fight Covid?
The neighbourhoods being targeted for testing are:
W7, N17 and CR4 in London
WS2 in Walsall
ME15 in Maidstone, Kent
PR9 in Southport
EN10 in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire
GU21 in Woking
Appealing to residents of these postcodes, Mr Hancock added: "It is
imperative that you stay at home, and that you get a test, even if you
don't have symptoms.
"This is so important so that we can break the chains of the
transmission of this new variant, and we've got to bring this virus to
heel."
Prof Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and
Immunisation (JCVI), said a "real effort" should be made to try to
"eliminate" the South African variant before it took hold.
Prof Jim McManus, the director of public health for Hertfordshire, said
if every single case was detected, it might be "possible" to eradicate
the variant within two weeks.
He warned that officials "may find this has spread beyond that, so it
may take three weeks or more, but we will give this everything we have
got," he told the BBC.
Asked about the effectiveness of vaccines against the South African
strain, Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic response director at Public Health
England, said: "Three of the vaccines that have been used to date in the
trials have shown that they've been effective against the South African
variant at a level greater than was set as the minimum standard by the WHO.
"We expect all other vaccines to have a similar level of effectiveness,
particularly in reducing hospitalisation and death."
Almost 9.3 million people in the UK have now received a first dose of a
coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest government figures.
media captionMatt Hancock: UK "must come down hard" on South Africa variant
Meanwhile, a further 18,607 new infections were recorded in the UK as of
Monday, as well as another 406 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
In total, 105 cases of the South African variant have been identified.
The 11 cases are not tied to people who had travelled to South Africa,
or to the other known cases, prompting fears they may have caught it in
the UK.
And the government has now advised local authorities to begin mass
testing in a number of neighbourhoods where these cases have been
identified.
In some areas, home testing kits are also being sent to households.
Positive cases will be analysed to see if they are caused by the South
African variant.
2px presentational grey line
Hit hard and early
Analysis box by Nick Triggle, health correspondent
This development sounds alarming - with just a handful of cases
prompting a massive effort to get tens of thousands of people tested.
But as always context is needed.
This variant is - like the UK one - more contagious.
But there is no evidence that it causes more serious illness.
And data suggests the vaccines will work against it, although maybe not
quite as well as they do against the original one.
So the logic of public health officials is to stop or at least slow the
spread.
We are at a crucial point with the vaccine being rolled out quickly and
immunity being built up by significant numbers of vulnerable people.
Anything that interferes with that will slow our escape from lockdown
and, ultimately, the pandemic as well as increasing risk to the population.
So the aim is to hit it hard and early.
The fact the UK is the world leader in sequencing - the process of
analysing positive cases in detail - means officials have been able to
identify the early signs of community transmission, giving the country a
fighting chance of stamping down hard on this variant.
2px presentational grey line
Dr Susan Hopkins, of Public Health England, urged people to come forward
in these areas.
"We are trying to contain this so it does not spread," she said.
Kent County Council said police staff would be among those going
door-to-door to offer residents in the ME15 area tests "there and then".
In Hertfordshire, residents in the EN10 area will receive a letter
offering tests at mobile screening units, to collect at a local library,
or through the post, the county council said.
Public Health England has been analysing around 5% to 10% of all
positive cases in more detail, allowing it to identify new variants in
the community.
In December, the discovery of the new strain prompted a ban on foreign
nationals travelling into the UK from South Africa and later from
southern African countries.
Under current restrictions, people arriving into England from anywhere
outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man need to
isolate at home for 10 days and provide a negative Covid test result
before travel.
media captionBoris Johnson: "We will be living with Covid for a while to
come"
A new system of quarantine requiring those arriving from countries under
travel bans to isolate in hotels is due to be introduced in the coming
weeks.
There are signs the South African variant makes vaccination a little
less effective.
Studies are underway into how the vaccines work against the new
variants, with some early results suggesting the Pfizer jab protects
against them.
Data on two new vaccines that could be approved soon - one from Novavax
and another from Janssen - show that they appear to offer some
protection against the variant.
Meanwhile, early results from Moderna suggest its vaccine is still
effective against the South Africa variant.
Banner image reading 'more about coronavirus'
TESTING: How do I get a virus test?
SYMPTOMS: What are they and how to guard against them?
LOOK-UP TOOL: How many cases in your area?
GLOBAL SPREAD: How many worldwide cases are there?
Banner
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson said vaccines would still give a high
degree of immunity nonetheless, adding the vaccines could be adapted to
deal with new variants if necessary.
"The fact is we are going to be living with Covid for a while to come in
one way or another," Mr Johnson said.
"I don't think it will be as bad as the last 12 months, or anything
like, of course.
"But it's very, very important that our vaccines continue to develop and
to adapt - and they will."
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson said that, if things go well, he would be
"optimistic" about the chances of Britons enjoying a summer holiday this
year.
The success of the vaccine rollout and level of Covid cases would be
factors taken into consideration, he said.
It came as the NHS announced that a Covid vaccine has been offered to
all older residents at eligible care homes in England.
NHS England said more than 10,000 care homes with older residents had
been offered jabs, hailed as a "significant milestone".