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The new ‘faster spreading’ Covid-19 strain discovered in the UK has not been detected in Ireland so far, it emerged today.
r Cillian de Gascun of the National Virus Reference Laboratory at UCD said it has not yet been detected in the Republic of Ireland.
Labs across the country are on alert for the strain UK scientists are testing amid fears that it will make it easier to catch the virus.
However, it is not considered more virulent so far and is not likely to affect the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines.
There is still no indication that the virus is more dangerous than other strains of coronavirus.
Researchers from the Covid-19 Genomics UK (Cog-UK) consortium spotted the variant and will monitor its movement in the UK.
They analyze the genetic code of about 10 percent of coronavirus cases and share the sequences immediately.
Labs across the country were put on alert for the new strain yesterday after it emerged that it was behind a spike in cases in south-east England, home to many Irish emigrants who may travel here for Christmas.
A senior government source said that increased travel restrictions for passengers traveling from Britain were not being considered at this stage, but that the situation was “being monitored very closely”.
Medical Director Dr Tony Holohan said that all non-essential travel in and out of the country, including from the UK, should be postponed.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronan Glynn said news of the new strain, which does not appear to be more virulent, was relayed yesterday via an early warning system.
He said it was “too early” to say if it is in this country, but that he could not give any “false confidence” at this time that it will not affect the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines.
Professor Kingston Mills, from Trinity College’s School of Biochemistry and Immunology, said he does not yet have data on the new reported strain, but that if it turns out to be correct, it will become the dominant strain here.
“If it spreads faster, that’s bad news, as it is easier for people to get it,” he warned.
UK authorities believe that the new strain, which is being tested at its main laboratory facility in Porton Down, is no more deadly and there is a low risk that it will not respond to vaccines.
Medical Director Dr Tony Holohan repeated that all non-essential travel in and out of the country should be postponed, including to and from Britain.
It comes as two more deaths were reported here yesterday and 264 new cases, a drop from 429 on Sunday.
However, Dr. Holohan said there are often lowercase numbers earlier in the week and the five-day average has risen to 312 per 100,000.
The 14-day incidence of illness here is also declining at a slower rate.
Again he called on people to “minimize the amount of interactions” they have with other people and select the things that can be done and choose those as essential.
It is crucial to plan ahead to minimize the risk of contracting the infection if someone is reunited with the elderly or with an underlying illness.
Yesterday there were 215 Covid-19 patients in the hospital, an increase from recent days, and 33 patients were in intensive care, an increase of two since the weekend.
Yesterday’s new cases included 79 in Dublin, 24 in Donegal, 19 in Kerry, 18 in Limerick, 14 in Kildare and 14 in Wexford. The remaining 96 cases are spread across 16 other counties.
Meanwhile, Lorraine Nolan, head of Ireland’s drug watchdog, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), said the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency will meet on December 29 to decide whether the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine it should be recommended for approval.
Then it will go to the European Commission. He will have another meeting on January 12 to see if the Moderna vaccine should be recommended.
Ms Nolan said the vaccines are undergoing a “thorough scientific review” and there will be no “lowering of the bar” in granting them approval.
She said members of the public have questions about the speed at which the vaccines were developed, but assured them that the process was sped up but not rushed.
Several factors contributed to the pace of vaccine development, including extensive funding, the technologies involved, and the genetic sequencing of the virus, which occurred early, allowing work to begin.
“It will be the most reviewed drug because all the regulatory bodies are doing it at the same time around the world,” he added.
Regulatory bodies have been receiving continuous results from vaccine trials for many months and have not had to wait until all the final data has been completed.
He said he is concerned about false information about vaccines leaking through social media and urged people to obtain their information from reliable sources.
The two possible vaccines under review are aimed at keeping people who contract the virus from getting sick, but more studies are needed to see if they can prevent transmission of the virus from one person to another.
HPRA will be involved in monitoring the performance and safety of the vaccine.
once it launches here, he added.
An article in Anesthesia – the journal of the Association of Anesthetists – says that for the global vaccination program to be successful, available vaccines must be able to perform all three tasks: prevent infection from establishing in an individual, prevent disease progression, and prevent progressive transmission.
Irish independent
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