Search for mystery Brazil Covid variant narrows to 379 households
The hunt for a mystery person infected with a new, more transmissible Brazil variant of coronavirus has narrowed to 379 households, the health secretary has announced.
In total six cases of the new strain, also known as the P1 variant or Manaus variant, have been identified across England and Scotland.
One case has still yet to be tracked down, after the individual in question failed to fill out their contact details on their test registration card — thought to have been completed via a home test kit.
Matt Hancock told the House of Commons this afternoon that officials have now “identified the batch of home test kits in question”.
“Our search has narrowed from the whole country down to 379 households in the southeast of England and we’re contacting each one,” he added. “We’re grateful that a number of potential cases have come forward following the call that we put out over the weekend.”
Of the five other cases of the Brazil variant, two have been identified in south Gloucestershire and three in Scotland. All five of the identified cases are linked to travel from Brazil to the UK.
Scientists are concerned that the new strain could be more transmissible and prove more resistant to available vaccines than other coronavirus variants.
Hancock insisted the missing case was “rare and only occur in around 0.1 per cent of tests.”
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 at last night’s Downing Street press conference.
“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.
Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, Hancock added that the UK’s current vaccines had “not yet been studied against this variant” but that work is under way to “understand what impact it might have”.
“We do know this variant has caused significant challenges in Brazil,” he added. “So we’re doing all we can to stop the spread of this new variant in the UK, to analyse its effects and to develop an updated vaccine that works on all these variants of concern and protect the progress we’ve made as a nation.”