Covid 19 coronavirus – UK’s most transmissible strain of Covid-19 now in Australia

The most virulent strain of Covid-19 that has stopped the UK in its tracks has arrived in Australia, it has been confirmed.

On Monday, New South Wales Health Director Kerry Chant confirmed that two travelers from the UK had brought the new strain into the country, which is estimated to be 70% more transmissible than previous versions of the virus.

“I was informed today that we have had a couple of travelers return to the UK with the particular mutations that you are referring to,” Chant told reporters.

Chant did not say if the couple were currently in hotel quarantine.

None of the 83 cases that have emerged from the group on Sydney’s North Beaches have matched the UK strain through genomic sequencing.

“I can make it very clear that the Avalon group strain does not have those mutations,” said Chant. “But the bottom line, regardless, is that we must treat everyone with that process from the beginning to ensure that they do not come into contact and that there is no risk of exposure to any NSW residents.”

New strain could enter New Zealand

New Zealand will see the new Covid-19 strain enter the country in the coming weeks, warns a leading epidemiologist.

But such a scenario would only be a problem for New Zealand if it initiates an outbreak of community transmission, said Professor Michael Baker.

“It’s probably not that surprising that a strain like this arises because there is this evolutionary pressure on the virus, it always has a lot of variants floating around and if one is more infectious than others it will create more viruses in the next generation and so on, so the strain becomes more dominant, “Baker said.

“We will bring this virus to New Zealand now, or in the next few weeks, because it is becoming the dominant virus there.”

It will be months before there is sufficient vaccine coverage in Australia and New Zealand and we can limit transmission, he said, and in that time New Zealand is possibly in “our most dangerous stage.”

“Basically every time an infected person enters an MIQ facility in New Zealand, the risk of outbreaks increases because errors occur and it is a difficult virus to control.”

An additional period of MIQ stay in the UK and having a negative pre-travel test result would be a simple measure to add to our defenses, he said.

Lockdown in London

England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said there was no evidence to suggest the new strain caused a higher death rate or affected vaccines, but he was working to confirm that information.

The new strain forced British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce new restrictions for the Christmas period.

London and South East England, about a third of the English population, are currently at the highest level of a three-tier system of rules and will be placed at a new tier four.

People will be required to stay home except for essential reasons such as work, and nonessential retail will be closed, as will indoor leisure and entertainment.

A growing list of European Union countries have banned travel from the UK.