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Since Monday, December 21, several countries, including Italy, have cut air links to and from the UK, following news of a variant of the coronavirus identified in the country and suspected of spreading faster than the variants so far. circular. The blockades have also caused significant inconvenience to the British port of Dover, with hundreds of trucks bound for France blocked. The situation has improved in the early hours of today, but many have wondered if the restrictions on the UK decided by governments can really help to stop the spread of the new variant.
As we have discussed more extensively here, there is still much to clarify about the “English variant”, starting with its alleged ability to spread more quickly or cause COVID-19 cases with more severe symptoms (from the first analyzes it seems unlikely). Viruses are constantly changing and since the pandemic began, so has the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, giving rise to different variants that become prevalent in some geographical areas, they move to other places depending on the flows of those who move through work or tourism, and eventually evolve towards other variants. In most cases, mutations do not change the basic behavior of a virus or make it more dangerous.
As well as not knowing all the features yet, we don’t even know how much of the UK-identified variant is present elsewhere. And there is little difference in deciding whether or not to impose border blockades, as Peter Kremsner, director of the University Clinic of Tübingen in Germany, categorically explained: “It is idiotic. If this variant were only on the island, then it would make sense to close the borders with England, Scotland and Wales. But if it has already spread, then we have to face the variant everywhere ”.
Kremsner, like other experts, considers it unlikely that the variant has not already spread to at least some European countries, given that it had been around for months. World Health Organization believe that it is, however, “prudent” to maintain travel restrictions to and from the UK, pending some more details. Some countries have taken intermediate routes, requiring a negative coronavirus test as a prerequisite for being able to cross the border.
The first positive case for the variant of the coronavirus was identified in Kent, in the south-east of England, on September 20. It is now believed to be predominant in the London metropolitan area, and given the number of international visitors the city has, it seems unlikely that the variant has not spread elsewhere. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement of the coronavirus that had picked up nearly 20 mutations was made late last week, but the variant of the coronavirus had already been around for months.
The health authorities of some European countries have confirmed in recent days that they have detected positive cases, attributable to the “English variant”. Among them are France, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Holland and Italy. The governments of these and other countries still believe that flight closures can keep the number of new cases low, reducing the risk that the variant will spread among their populations.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has asked member states to avoid general blockades against the United Kingdom, especially to avoid problems in the chain of shipping and distribution of goods. The invitation was also made as a result of the situation in Dover, with hundreds of trucks stopped, many of them with deliveries of perishable products or to be made within the Christmas holidays.
The UK has one of the most accurate testing systems for SARS-CoV-2 and therefore frequently detects mutations, which accumulate and then lead to variants of the coronavirus that end up circulating in the population. The researchers speculate that English-like variants may have already appeared elsewhere and have gone unnoticed in the absence of more precise analytical activities.
For a few days there has been talk, for example, of another variant, identified in South Africa, which seems to lead to a higher viral load among those infected (simplifying, a higher concentration of viral particles per individual). Tests are still being done to assess whether this variant leads to more severe COVID-19 symptoms, as sometimes happens with viruses that cause high viral loads.
The closure of air connections to specific countries recalls the measures that several governments took at the beginning of the pandemic, when the first cases of coronavirus were detected. In that case, the limitations turned out to be late, since the virus was obviously already circulating widely among the population, although its presence had not been detected instrumentally through tests.
Current limitations could be ineffective in slowing the spread of the new variant, which, it should be remembered, at the moment we do not know whether or not the trend of the pandemic can worsen.
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