‘Missing’ sixth case of Brazil Covid mutation found in Croydon
A mystery sixth person infected with a new Brazil coronavirus “variant of concern” has been found in Croydon, the health secretary has announced.
Six cases of the new mutation, also known as the P1 variant or Manaus variant, had been identified across the UK.
Three cases were linked to Scotland, while two out of three cases identified in England were traced to South Gloucestershire. However, public health officials said they were unable to identify the individual behind a third case found in England.
The missing person has now been traced back to Croydon after a week-long search, Matt Hancock announced. The individual had recently travelled back to the UK from Brazil, and had been quarantining at home in London.
It comes after Hancock last week launched a nationwide public appeal for anyone who took a home Covid test on 12 or 13 February to come forward. It is thought the person in question failed to fill out their contact details on their test registration card.
The health secretary insisted the missing case was “rare and only occur in around 0.1 per cent of tests.”
The search was narrowed down to 379 households in the South East of England on Tuesday, with the case finally resolved this afternoon.
Scientists are concerned that the new strain could be more transmissible and prove more resistant to available vaccines than other coronavirus variants.
Preliminary studies of the new strain in Brazil showed that it may be between 1.4 to 2.2 times more transmissible than previous versions of coronavirus circulating in Manaus, the Amazon city where it originated.
It is also able to evade between 25 per cent and 61 per cent of protective immunity from previous infection, according researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Sao Paulo.
The Brazil variant has similar mutations found in the South Africa strain of coronavirus, which has sparked surge testing in regions across the UK.
“These and other mutations are associated with reduced impact of antibodies against the virus in laboratory experiments,” said Public Health England’s Dr Susan Hopkins.
“The current vaccines have not yet been studied against this variant and we will need to wait further clinical and trial data to understand the vaccine effectiveness against this variant. In the meantime, it is important to retract cases of this new variant as closely as possible in order to limit a spread in the UK,” she added.