British Prime Minister Boris Johnson discusses the current situation in Britain during a press conference on Saturday 19 December. Photo credit: AP
Key points
- On the same day that the UK broke its daily record for COVID-19 cases (it recorded 35,928 cases on Sunday), Prime Minister Johnson declared that much of the south and east of England would be under Level 4 restrictions.
- The worrying news coming out of the UK has already prompted several countries to implement various travel bans to and from the country.
- On Monday, the Union Health Ministry of India called an emergency meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) to discuss what steps to take to take charge of developments in the UK.
Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson took a toll on the hopes of millions of Britons when, at a hastily prepared press conference, he announced a series of new COVID-19 restrictions across the country, amid from growing fears that a new and more aggressive variant of the virus was spreading across the UK.
On the same day the UK broke its daily record of COVID-19 cases (it recorded 35,928 cases on Sunday), Prime Minister Johnson declared that much of the south and east of England would be under Level 4 restrictions, the most stringent UK standards, while noting that the new strain could be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the previously predominant strain.
While several unknowns remain about the new strain, Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, claimed that there were an unusually high number of changes in the genetic material of the virus that may allow it to spread much faster than other strains.
However, researchers must figure out whether the new variant may be responsible for more severe disease. Furthermore, despite the significant mutation seen, experts have said that there is currently no evidence to suggest that it will affect vaccination efforts.
Under UK Tier 4 restrictions, non-essential shops, cinemas, hair salons, gyms and bowling alleys will be forced to close for at least two weeks. Individuals will be restricted from meeting another person from another household in a public outdoor area. This also means that there will be no domestic mixing during the Christmas period. In other areas of England, Scotland and Wales where less stringent restrictions have been imposed, domestic mixing will only be allowed on Christmas Day.
How is the world responding?
The worrying news coming out of the UK has already prompted several countries to implement various travel bans to and from the country. Argentina, Colombia and Chile have suspended flights to and from the UK, while Ecuador is also considering similar measures to control the spread of the virus.
France on Sunday also declared its decision to ban flights to and from the UK with the port of Dover and Eurotunnel now temporarily closed. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, via tweet, also announced a 72-hour ban on all passenger travel from the UK starting at midnight on Sunday.
The Republic of Ireland announced a two-day ban on Monday and Tuesday for visitors to the UK by air or sea. Italy has also banned incoming flights from the UK and bans any flights to the country. It also bans entry to anyone who has traveled to Britain in the past two weeks.
Portugal has stated that it will only allow Portuguese citizens to arrive from the UK, adding that they must carry a negative COVID-19 test to gain access. Belgium has also implemented a 24-hour flight ban.
Meanwhile, Latvia and the Netherlands have announced lengthy bans on flights arriving from the UK and are expected to last until the new year. Estonia has also announced a similar ban. The new variant has also been seen in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia according to some reports. The Czech Republic has instituted a mandatory 10-day quarantine for travelers arriving from the UK that took effect on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia has now also moved to suspend all international flights and entry through land and sea ports for those traveling from the UK for a week. Turkey has also banned flights from the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa. Israel has also followed suit by suspending flights from Britain, South Africa and Denmark.
On Monday, the Union Ministry of Health of India called an emergency meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) to discuss what steps to take to take charge of developments in the UK. However, no decision regarding international air travel has yet been announced.
What does a mutant virus mean?
Like all coronaviruses discovered to date, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is capable of shapeshifting. Although some genetic changes may be inconsequential as they relate to the way the virus spreads and the symptoms triggered, others can make it more transmissible and cause more intense infections.
The current variant seen in the UK is not the first mutation seen and it is not likely to be the last. However, more studies on the mutant strains could allow researchers to get ahead of more worrisome mutations capable of bypassing a body’s immune system or bypassing vaccine or antibody treatments.
Mutations are generally considered to be routine aspects of the life cycle of a virus, and from what we currently understand about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the vast majority of variants appear to be weaker than the original strain.
As for how this affects vaccination, it is worth noting that vaccines are being developed to target the early version of the virus and as such are likely to be equally or similarly effective against later variants. The flu vaccine, for example, reportedly still uses a strain from eleven years ago. The 2009 strain is an ancestor of those that followed, and although there are subtle changes, the H1N1 vaccine has still been shown to provide good immunity against descendant strains.
