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The rapid spread of a new strain of coronavirus is the “worst news” of the pandemic so far, a government scientist told Sky News.
The British should be “very concerned” about the mutated strain of COVID-19 what is circulating in London and the southeast, said Professor Andrew Hayward of the government’s New and Emerging Virus Threat Advisory Group (NERVTAG).
Highlighting the importance of the ease with which this strain is transmitted from person to person, he said: “This is really terrible news in terms of the pandemic.
“If the vaccine is the best news, this is the worst news we’ve had so far, and we really, really need to close the hatches to stop the spread of this strain while vaccinating as many people as possible.”
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Professor Andrew Hayward is a member of the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threat Advisory Group (NERVTAG).
On Saturday, the new variant, called VUI-202012/01, saw the prime minister cancel christmas by millions of people after being informed that it is up to 70% more transmittable.
Professor Hayward, director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care at University College London (UCL), told Sky News that this is because the new strain causes people to have a much higher viral load.
He added that areas that have not yet seen large numbers of cases of the new strain are “about three weeks behind” those that were subjected to the new tougher Level 4 restrictions over the weekend.
This could mean that regions like the South West and North of England could soon find themselves at Level 4 as well.
When asked how the new mutation was able to thrive despite England’s national shutdown in November, Professor Hayward said the latest shutdown was “less intense” and people’s attitudes about it were “less strict”.
“It is concerning that even though we had relatively strong measures that were sufficient to suppress the previous virus, they were not sufficient to stop this one,” he added.
But he said if the UK is to mitigate “many, many more deaths” as a result of VUI-202012/01, people must reduce their contacts with people during the Christmas period.
And after a series of countries travel to the UK prohibited To stop the entry of the new strain, Professor Hayward suggested that the UK should “take its own steps” to close its borders.
But he questioned claims that the government’s action on the new strain has been “too slow,” saying its NERVTAG committee first discussed it on December 11.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that the government has been slow to act on this. It’s more a question of how much more we need to act,” he said.
