“The English variant is in the Netherlands.” This is what Italy risks and how much

A hope, the coronavirus vaccine and a possible threat, a variant much more contagious than Sars-CoV-2 which, since UK, would be ready to march on the rest of Europe: these are the lights and shadows that reflect the impending future of humanity, dealing with a seemingly endless health emergency. Right now that the worst seemed to have passed, that the pharmaceutical companies were warming up their engines waiting for vaccines to rain on the heads of scared citizens and that the virus gave the impression of having the months numbered, well, right now here is the joke of that could ruin all plans.

The joke is likely a variant of SARS-CoV-2 located in and around London. A variant, say British experts, much more contagious than the normal version, with an estimated transmissibility up to 70% higher than the “traditional” form of the virus. Since we know very little about this variant, except that it would be much more contagious than the normal version, at least two fears have arisen. The first: that the new threat may soon spread to other European countries, causing epidemiological curves to skyrocket and causing hospitals to go crazy. The second: that the Sars-CoV-2 variant may somehow yield ineffective the vaccine.

Regarding this last assumption, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson explained that “there is no evidence that the variant of Covid-19, identified precisely in London and in the south of England, makes the vaccine less effective.” Followed by statements by the Minister of Health, Matt Hancock according to which, at the moment, there is “nothing to suggest” that this variant could induce more severe symptoms, or that it will not respond to vaccines that are to be administered to the public. In any event, London has communicated the discovery toWorld Health Organization (WHO), and tests are underway to measure the increased virulence of the new strain.

Holland is armored

We were talking about the fear of a possible spread of the new variant of Covid-19 in the rest of Europe. It is precisely for this reason thatNetherlands has decided to ban all flights from the UK. “The ban on flights carrying passengers from the UK will take effect on December 20 at 06:00 local time. This ban will remain in force until January 1, 2021 at the latest, ”reads a note released by the Dutch government.

The red alert was triggered after local authorities intercepted at least one case of the same more contagious variant of the virus in the Netherlands, prompting the UK to implement a new lockdown. Holland’s goal is one: to stop the introduction of the “new” Covid-19 in the bud. “Any introduction of this UK variant must be rammed as far as possible, limiting and controlling the movement of passengers arriving from the UK ”, interrupted the Dutch Ministry of Health. The hypothesis of introducing additional measures for other means of transport, following the interruption of flights, is being examined. Besides Holland, also the Belgium made the same decision. There France instead, it is considering suspending air and rail links with Britain

What Italy risks

To understand how the situation could evolve (the conditional is essential, given the uncertainty), it is useful to listen to the words used by Boris Johnson in his last press conference. “We are very sorry and bitter, but when the facts change you have to change your approach,” Johnson said, responding to reporters who asked him the reason for the sudden change of course after he said just three days before that it would be “inhumane to cancel. Christmas”. “You can’t ignore the Transmission speed of the new variant, “Johnson warned again, adding that” when the virus changes its method of attack, we must change our method of defense. “

the guardian He wrote that the new restrictions announced yesterday by the government “appear to have caused an alarming exodus of people from London who hoped to avoid it by going to other parts of the country, less affected by Covid.” Furthermore, since mid-September – that is, when the Covid-19 variant was discovered – to date, several people have left the UK for work reasons or to return to their respective countries.

As reported by the He would run, today several flights from the UK should have landed in Italy: 14 flights in Lombardy, in addition to 8 from Lazio, I 4 from Veneto and others in different regions. Recognizing the situation, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Luigi di maio, has decided to suspend air links with Great Britain. “The United Kingdom – wrote the minister on Facebook – has sounded the alarm about a new form of Covid that would be the result of a mutation of the virus. As a government, we have a duty to protect ItalyNor, for this reason, after having notified the British Government, with the Ministry of Health we are about to sign the provision to suspend flights with Great Britain. Our priority is to protect theItaly and our compatriots “.

We remind you that since December 10 there are no more checks with quick swabs at Italian airports for travelers from Holland and Great Britain. It is not excluded, and the Dutch case is there to prove it, that someone may have inadvertently transported the variant to other states (Italy including, where at the moment, however, no cases of this variant have been found). The panorama remains opaque and the WHO itself is working to analyze what is happening.

The new variant

But what do we know about the new Covid-19 variant discovered in London? For now, only that it is more contagious than the previous one and that it contains 23 code differences than the standard sequence. It has not been shown to be more lethal or resistant to the vaccine. In the week ending December 9, the variant was found in 62% of cases in London, 59% in the east of England and 43% in the south east.

“There is nothing surprising in having found a variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus and there is no evidence that it is more bad and dangerous,” he explained to theActed Giovanni Maga, director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the National Research Council. Christ Whitty, head of England’s health authority, believes that “this situation may make things worse, but there are other aspects that lead tooptimism, like the next vaccine, as long as the vaccine works against this variant, which at the moment is only a guess“.