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The new strain of COVID-19 could more easily infect children, says a member of the government’s advisory group on new and emerging respiratory virus threats (NervTag).
The variant of the coronavirus – named VUI-202012/01Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed it was in circulation last week and is said to be behind the recent spike in infections, including in London and much of the south-east of England.
His appearance led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the weekend canceling this christmas by millions people, who now live under the strictest Level 4 restrictions, and have powered dozens of countries to cut flights from the UK amid fears of it spreading.
Professor Neil Ferguson is a member of NervTag
Speaking in a Nervtag question and answer session, Professor Neil Ferguson said: “There is an indication that it has a higher propensity to infect children … but we have not established any kind of causality in this regard, but we can see that. in the data. “
He added: “What we have seen over the course of a five or six week period is that the proportion of pillar two cases for the variant in children under 15 years was statistically significantly higher than that for the non-variant virus.”
However, he cautioned that more data would be needed to reach a conclusion.
Another speaker, Professor Wendy Barclay, said in the question and answer section that care should be taken when looking at the impact of the new variant on children.
“We are not saying that this is a virus that specifically targets children,” he said.
“We know that SARS-CoV-2, as it emerged as a virus, was not as effective in infecting children as it was in adults, and there are many hypotheses about this.
“And again, if the (new) virus is having an easier time finding an entry cell, that would put the kids on a more level playing field.”
He added: “Therefore, children are equally susceptible to this virus as adults, and therefore, given their mixing patterns, it is to be expected that more children will be infected.
“It’s not just the viruses that specifically target them, but now it’s less inhibited, if you will, to penetrate children.”
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Professor Ferguson went on to say that “there was strong evidence that the new mutant strain is 50% more transmissible than the old virus.”
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The severe warning from the COVID expert about a new strain
Speaking earlier about the new variant, Nervtag Professor Andrew Hayward told Sky News: “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.”
